Test of Friendship
by Nightlight5
Summary: Ch. 11 is finally uploaded! One night when Yugi was walking home, a strange shadow turns him into a dog to test his friends, but is that really why he did it? R
1. Metamorphose

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.  
  
Hey Guys! Guess what? I bet you'll never guess, but go ahead and try. Alright, I'll tell you. I wrote another story! See, I told you you would never guess. Anyways, I thought since it was taking me so long to update my other fic, I thought I might send in this one that I've had written for a while if for a treat and then I promise that I'll have up Chapter 10 on "Back 2 the Future". Anyways, do enjoy!  
  
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TEST OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: Metamorphose  
  
Yugi turned the door knob of the small apartment that belonged to Joey and begin to exit. He had barely taken two steps out the door before Joey and Tristan's head popped out in the open door way.  
  
"Are you sure you can't stay, Yugi?" Joey asked.   
  
"Yeah, I'd better go check on Yami, he looked pretty sick when he left." Yugi said as him and Joey looked to Tristan.  
  
"What?! How was I suppose to know he was lactose intolerant?" Tristan said crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.   
  
Yugi and Joey both laughed at Tristan's screwed up face and clearly angered look. Joey elbowed Tristan trying to change the expression. When that didn't work, Joey reached over and pulled Joey into a headlock and chunked him back into the apartment.   
  
"So, well see you tomorrow Yug?" Joey asked standing in the now clear doorway.  
  
Yugi turned to Joey and nodded.   
  
"Oh and tell Yami, that I hope he feels better and I hope Tristan's double milky malt doesn't kill him.  
  
Yugi smiled at Joey's comment, but his smile quickly turned to surprised when Tristan suddenly appeared in the doorway and grabbed Joey's arm and forced it behind his back.  
  
"I didn't know, it's not my fault!" Tristan exclaimed in Joey's ear.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow Yugi, but I don't think you'll be seeing Joey."  
  
"Oh, your trying to be tough are ya? Well, I got your tough right here." Joey said as he tried to break Tristan's grip, but instead of breaking the grip he lost his balance and they both fell to the ground.  
  
"Well, that fall did hurt as bad as I thought it would."   
  
"That's because... you fell on me!" Tristan said as he shoved Joey off and onto the floor.  
  
"Owf"  
  
Yugi smiled and shook hid head as he walk down the hallway still hearing the sporadic thuds of Joey and Tristan's quarrel.  
  
Yugi walked down the dark and damp sidewalk on his way back to the Game Shop. He hoped that Yami was feeling better or at least remembered to take his keys since grandpa was going to be gone on a dig in Egypt for a couple of weeks.  
  
Yugi laughed to himself when he thought back to the look on all his friends faces when Yami spit Tristan's malt out across the room, nearly hitting Tristan and Duke, who at the time where both fighting over who got to sit by Serenity.  
  
"It's too bad that Tea had to work. She would have loved to have seen that."  
  
Tea had to work tonight. She had recently gotten a job at Yugi and Joey's favorite burger joint. She had been working a lot at night lately and had been getting home late.  
  
Yugi stopped under a nearby streetlight when he heard a familiar voice inside his head.  
  
//Yugi?//  
  
/Hey Yami, I was just on my way home to see you. How do you feel?/  
  
//Well, I've been better, but I'll live if that's what you mean.//  
  
/That's good, I think./  
  
//You could have stayed a bit longer at your friends house if you wanted to Hikari.//  
  
/I know, but I wanted to check on you./  
  
Yami didn't reply, but simply sent a smile through the link.  
  
/I'll be home in a minute./  
  
Yugi smiled back to Yami before closing the link and sticking his hands into his pockets. Once inside his pocket he felt his finger graze the corner of what felt like a piece of paper. He wrapped his fingers around the square object and brought it out of his pocket.  
  
It was a picture.  
  
The picture was of all of his friends. Joey, Tristan, Tea, Duke, Serenity, Bakura, and Yami; they were all there. Joey had one arm around Yugi's shoulder ruffling his hair with his other hand. Yami stood in the background with Bakura and Tea. He was giving his usual half way smile while Bakura and Tea was looking at Yugi and Joey with a half laughing half smile on their faces. Duke and Tristan were standing on each side of Serenity glaring at one another, unbeknown to Serenity who was smiling and waving a Japanese victory sign at the camera.  
  
"Who could ask for more? I have the best friends in the world." Yugi thought to himself.  
  
Yugi was about to place the picture back into his pocket when a strange wind whipped about him snatching the picture from his hand and sending it flying down a nearby alley.  
  
"Hey!" Yugi yelled reaching out after the picture, but it had already blown to far out of reach and into the blackest of the alley.  
  
As soon as the wind died off Yugi brushed his golden bangs from his eyes and stepped into the unwelcoming alley. The alley was dark and eerie. Yugi scanned the ground quickly as best as he could with the little amount of light he had. He began to travel farther and farther back into the alley until there was no light at all. Now he had to resort to using his hand to find the picture. After a few minutes of hand searching, Yugi's hand finally came upon one of the sharp corners of the picture. He placed the picture close to his eyes and could just make out the smiling faces of his friends. He sighed and held the picture out away from his face.  
  
"Phew... I thought I had lost you guys."  
  
"But would they care if you got lost?" came a deep voice from the eerie blackness.  
  
Yugi jumped nearly dropping his picture and began to look around. "Who said that?"  
  
No response...  
  
"Sh...show yourself." Yugi studdered.  
  
"In due time, my boy." said the deep velvety voice that sent shivers up and down Yugi's spine.  
  
Yugi began to take a step back but hit something hard and let out a loud puff of breathe.  
  
"What's your hurry?" the deep voice echoed.  
  
Finally, out of the dark came a dark figure outlined by a pure blue light that lit the alley just enough for Yugi to see what was now behind him. It was a wall.  
  
Yugi let out a stunned gasp to see a wall where there had once been a clear path leading to the street.  
  
"No way!"  
  
Yugi noticed a soft glow coming from his hand. He looked down to see what it could be when he saw the picture of his friends outlined in the same color blue as the shadow figure. He felt a sharp tug on the picture causing it to fly from his hand and into the ghostly hand of the shadowy figure.  
  
"So these are your friends?" the shadowy figure said with a voice that rattled the end of the alley. "Are these the same friends that you would do anything for? But I suppose the real question is, would they do anything for you?"  
  
Yugi didn't know how to answer this question. He had never been asked that before. Of course his friends would do anything for him. Yugi knew that, or at least he thought he knew. Why couldn't he answer the shadowy figure's question? Was he really not that sure about his friends?  
  
"Of course they would." Yugi spat.  
  
"Are you sure?" the Shadowy figure asked. "You seem unsure."  
  
Yugi didn't like his situation at all. He didn't want to be there anymore, but what could he do, he was boxed in.  
  
"W... what do you want?" Yugi asked slightly shaky.  
  
"I don't want anything", the Shadowy figure said stretching out his grim hand and causing the same light around him to outline Yugi, "I only wish for you to see."  
  
Yugi began to feel strange. "Wait, what... what are you doing?"  
  
He tried to get away but the blue light held him firmly in place, and even if he were to get away, where would he go? He was boxed in with no way out. He was trapped. Yugi could only think of one last thing to do.  
  
/Yami!/  
  
Yugi felt Yami jump through the link. He felt bad for having to yell and startling him, but he didn't know how much time he had left.  
  
"No no", the shadowy figure said as he stretched out his other hand in front of Yugi's head. His hand glowed blue and he drew it together into a fist. Yugi gritted his teeth in pain. Even though the Shadowy figure's hand was out in front of Yugi, it felt like his hand was inside of his mind squeezing his link shut. The pain was horrible. The tried to hang on to the link as long as he could. He could hear Yami faintly through the barely opened linked, but it was weak and he couldn't understand what he was saying, nor could he reply. Finally he felt the link completely go dead.  
  
"Why are... you doing this?" Yugi panted from the energy he had wasted on holding on to his link.  
  
"I want to test your friends." the Shadowy figure replied. "I want to show you that you don't have the friends you think you have."  
  
"You leave my friends alone!" Yugi forced out.  
  
"Oh relax dear boy, I don't plan to hurt your friends", the Shadowy figure said taking a step closer to stand face to face with his small victim. "but I can't say the same for you."  
  
Yugi felt himself go pale.  
  
"Yugi, the friends you think you have don't exist. You think that your friends will always be there for you. But what if they didn't know who you were or even what you looked like. Do you think that your friends could figure out who you are if I were to change you?"   
  
"Huh? What do you mean?" Yugi said feeling a little more frighten then before.  
  
"You believe that your friends will always come through for you, right? Then if I were to change you, would your friends be able to over come the difference and help their friend?  
  
Yugi was now confused along with the already feeling of fright. What was this thing planning on doing to him?  
  
"My friends can over come anything you do." Yugi said trying to put on a brave face to not show any weakness to this creature.  
  
"I hope so, because if they don't, it'll be your life", the shadowy figure said as he drew his finger up and laid it on Yugi's forehead causing the blue outline around him to turn red.  
  
Yugi immediately felt the pain from the shadow's touch. His small frame began to burn like fire as he felt himself changing. He wasn't sure how to describe what he was feeling. His vision, which was usually low already, began to get lower and all the colors around him faded away. Soon, he felt himself laying on the ground and the pain around him had disappeared.  
  
Yugi began to pick himself up but found that when he stood up he was very low to the ground.  
  
"What's the matter with me?" Yugi frantically thought.  
  
"What did you do to me?!" Yugi said in a strange voice. In fact, if he hadn't known any better, he would have thought he barked.  
  
"What's that little Yugi?" the Shadowy figure asked with a smirk, "Your going to have to speak up."  
  
Yugi began to say something else but stopped when all that came out was a bark. The one bark seemed to ring out throughout the alley, as if to mock him. Yugi took a step back trying to figure out what was going on when his foot slipped into a water puddle. He quickly regained his balance and turned to face the puddle. The water rippled for a moment and then settled on his reflection. Yugi's eyes widened at the sight of what was looking back at him. He wanted to look away, but found that he couldn't. He didn't want to believe in what he saw, but how could he not believe in what was right in front of him. Yugi turned and looked back up at the Shadowy figure.  
  
"You made me a dog?!"  
  
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A/N: Well, that concludes Chapter1! So what do you all think? Should I continue with it or what? Now be completely honest. *holds fist in the air* I can take it! Well, please R&R and tell me what you think or what I could do to improve it or if I should even continue it. Arigatou! ^_~  
  
Nightlight5 


	2. Adjusting

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh  
  
Thanks to all the reviewers! And I also forgot to tell you all that Yugi and Yami are separated in this fic.  
  
Review Responses:  
  
SORCERESS VANESSA: I'm glad you thought it was funny and yes, it is sad at the same time. Thank you for the first review of the first chapter of many.  
  
DARK_IRIS: Weeee! I'm so glad you think you like it and I hope that you like this one too. This one might not be as good as the last one but I'm trying to bridge the gap so I can go on to funnier things. Thank you for the second review. *hugs*  
  
BAYLEEF: Yep Yep, Are lovable Yugi is now a pup. I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for the third review.   
  
LOLITA BANKS: I'm glad to know that the ending was a eye popper. I hope you like the chapters to come and thank you for the forth review!  
  
/blah/= Yugi to Yami  
  
//blah//= Yami to Yugi  
  
'blah'= Thinking  
  
{blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
CHAPTER 2: Adjusting   
  
"You made me a dog?!"  
  
"That's right little Yugi, and I'm the only one who can understand you."  
  
"What do you mean?" Yugi barked.  
  
"You see, you're a dog now Yugi and dogs don't talk, they bark," the shadowy figure said kneeling down in front of Yugi.  
  
"Why would you do this?"  
  
"I told you," the shadowy figure said, "I want to test your friends."  
  
"Why don't you leave me and my friends alone?"  
  
"Because Yugi, I find it fascinating that you put so much of your trust in these, so-called-friends. How can you be sure that your friends will always come through for you?" the shadowy figure asked.  
  
"Because there my friends, they'll always be there for me, no matter what." Yugi barked with a bit of pride in his voice.  
  
"I hope so", the shadowy figure said directing Yugi to look back into the puddle. Yugi was a small dog. His fur was as black as night, except for the yellow patches around his feet. Around his neck he wore a red bandana and hidden underneath it was a triangular dog tag reassembling the Millennium Puzzle, "Because if they don't figure out who you are in the next seven days, then they'll lose you forever."  
  
Yugi turned away from the puddle and back to the shadowy figure. "A week?! And what do you mean they'll lose me forever?"  
  
"If in seven days, your friends can't figure out who you are, then your soul becomes mine. But if by some miracle your friends do figure out its you, then you will change back and you are free to keep your soul." the shadowy figure said petting Yugi's head, which Yugi pulled away immediately.  
  
'My soul... why my..." Yugi jumped as the wall behind him disappeared. The shadowy figure began to walk back towards the alley as he slowly began to disappear, but stopped to say something.  
  
"A dog. Isn't that man's best friend?" The shadowy figure then disappeared into the blackness of the alley.  
  
Yugi's little doggie feet patted the concrete as he exited the alley and made his way down the street.  
  
{How do I get myself into these kinds of messes? Oh well, I guess it's my own fault. Yami told me if I didn't stop making those puppy dog eyes they'd get stuck, but I had no idea I would turn into a dog all together.}  
  
Everything seemed a lot bigger and it was harder to tell where he was. His vision was now black and white and he couldn't use colors to help find his way home. Yugi sat under a street light and looked around for something, anything that might tell him where to go.  
  
{I can't believe how lost I am. It couldn't possible get any worse.}  
  
Yugi began to walk down the street when he felt something hit him in the head. Slowly it slid down between his eyes and to the end of his nose.  
  
{water?}  
  
Little water droplets began to fall harder and harder.   
  
{Rain. Well, It just got worse.}  
  
The rain splattered the ground around him and hit him all over. Water drops soaked his coat as he tried to shake the loose water off. Yugi would have tried to hide from the rain by now, but there was no where to go. The streets were like a welcome mat for rain and there was no way he was going back down another alley.  
  
At about that time Yugi came up to an open gate that read "Domino City Park". He quickly scampered into the park and into a nearby gazebo. He shook off as much water as he could and sat down shivering under a seat. The wind blow spare droplets of rain into the gazebo that hit Yugi's exposed nose every now and again.  
  
The rain was now beginning to slack off, but there was still a chill in the wind. He wondered what time it was. It had to be late seeing that he didn't leave Joey's house until 10 o'clock and he had just told Yami that he was going to be home right before he made his trip down the alley.  
  
{How am I going to get them to see who I am?}  
  
Yugi was about to close his eyes and draft off to sleep when he heard a loud scream that pierced the air and rang out through his sensitive doggie ears causing them to prick back and raise his head.  
  
{What was that? It sounded like... Tea?!}  
  
Yugi bounced up from the floor of the gazebo, unconsciously slipping in his own puddle of water, and ran out of the park. He ran down the street a little ways before stopping and looking around.  
  
{Come on Tea. Where are you?}  
  
Just then he heard another yell.  
  
Yugi pricked up an ear and crocked the other to the side trying to determine her where about. Finally he determined that the noise had come from the alley just ahead.  
  
{Great... another alley.}  
  
With a swish of air Yugi was off again and was now standing in the open alley way. Yugi's eyes widen at the sight in front of him.   
  
Tea was cornered at the end of the alley with two thugs fast approaching on her. She was drenched from the rain and had her purse drone back like she was ready to hit a home run on either one of them.  
  
"Stay back you creeps!" she yelled as she swung her purse at one of them only to have the thug catch it.  
  
"Now, now", the thug said as he pulled Tea forward with her purse and pushed her to the ground, "that's no way for a lady to act."  
  
Tea sat on the ground where she had been thrown and was rubbing her now scrapped knee. Yugi was enraged at this and let out a low growl. He lowered his head to the ground and began to charge at one of the thugs.  
  
{That may not be how a lady's suppose to act, but I'll show you how a dog's suppose to act.}  
  
The thug smugly smiled down at Tea. He was about to reach down and drag her up when he felt a sharp pain fill the bottom of his leg. He made a loud yelp in pain and then looked towards his leg. There sat a small black dog with his teeth sunk deep into his leg.  
  
Yugi's teeth were deep and secure inside the thug's leg. His eyes were narrow in rage, and he had already decided in his mind that he wasn't going to let go. The thug began to shake his leg in an effort to sling Yugi off, but it was no good. Finally in a last attempt the thug kicked at Yugi hitting him in the side.  
  
The thug had thought for sure that he had gotten rid of the dog, but when he looked down, he was still there. He was becoming angry now and bent down and grabbed Yugi by the scruff of his neck, but little did he know that while he was dealing with Yugi, Tea had risen from the ground and was preparing to make her on attack.  
  
She swung her purse behind her back and waited for the right moment. Yugi glanced up as Tea through his slit eyes and saw what she was about to do, so he promptly released his grip and waited. In a matter of seconds, Tea had brought her purse down hitting the thug in the face, causing him to release Yugi and go skidding down the alley. Once he stopped, he laid still in a pool of water. The second thug was now angered at his fallen comrade and was now approaching fast.  
  
Yugi could only think of one thing to do now, and that was to protect Tea. But for how long could he keep that up? The thug was clearly bigger than him and it wouldn't be long before he would take him out. But that didn't matter to him. He would stand up for his friends no matter what the cost. Yugi and Tea had been friends since kindergarten and she always stood up for him, even when Joey and Tristan use to tease him, which was before they had all became best friends. Now it was his turn to stand up for her, no matter if he got hurt in the end or not.  
  
The thug began to get closer as Yugi held his ground in front of Tea. He could feel her fear and determination all at the same time. The thug was now directly in front of Yugi with an outstretched arm towards Tea. Yugi gathered all his strength around him and made a flying leap into the air latching a hold to the thugs arm. With a yell the thug turned his back to Tea and grabbed Yugi by the back of the neck. The thug pulled at Yugi until he didn't have any strength left to hold on with and let go. As if almost effortless the thug launched Yugi across the alley causing him to hit the wall on the other side and slid to the ground with a whimper.  
  
Yugi tried to stand back up, but when he did, it felt as if every bone in his body had been broken and he quickly plopped back down. He heard Tea make a noise and he opened his eye long enough to see Tea with her purse in her hand and the thug laying on the ground like the first. Yugi smiled as his star stuck vision increased and the blackness overwhelmed him.  
  
Tea looked up from the thug and crossed over to where the small black dog was laying against the wall.  
  
"Oh you poor thing." She said as she scooped him up into her arms and made her way out of the alley.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N: That ends the 2nd chapter, please drop a review. 


	3. Long walk

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
/blah/= Yugi to Yami  
  
//blah//= Yami to Yugi  
  
'blah'= thinking  
  
{blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
**~~**~~**= scene change  
  
Hey! I'm back with the 3rd chapter and I'm thrilled to say I can update now that FF.net is back and in working order! Now I won't keep talking on and on about nothing and keep you from the chapter like I'm doing now so now the review responses.  
  
  
  
REVIEW RESPONSE:  
  
JILL: Ouch! I'm sorry that you don't like the story. I agree that Yugi would make a cute kitty, but I've seen a story about that already and I just wanted to do something a like different. However, If it makes you feel any better, there will be a cat in this story. ^_^  
  
MITTENS NO HIKARI: Hey! You are still alive! I was beginning to wonder. I know what you mean about melting ^_^ I'm glad you like it and I'm glad your still alive. Thanks for the review!  
  
UNA1: Drawing! I've been trying to find someone to draw Yugi's dog character. That would be a very Kawaii picture I think. Thank you for the review.  
  
SQURLIE JACK: Well, here you are! Thank you for the review! ^_^  
  
REDTAURUS: lol, good joke. ?_? I'm glad you want to know what happens next and well, here you go and thanks for the review.  
  
BAYLEEF: I agree with you, he is cute and Tea should drop him...ummm, well, not drop him, but put him down gently. *gives doggie Yugi a hug* Thanks for the review! ^_~  
  
TEST OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
Chapter 3: Long walk  
  
Yugi's eyes gradually opened to a bright new surrounding. His head throbbed at the sudden lightness of the room and his front right paw ached slightly. He slowly lifted his head and looked around. It was a small room painted in pink and had many dancing and acting poster covering the wall. He looked down and saw that he was sitting on a bed surrounded by multi-colored pillows and his front right paw was bandaged.  
  
{Where am I?}  
  
Yugi sat up and gently leaned on one of the fluffier pillows with is right paw cradled in the air. He heard the door across the room make a soft click and someone walk in. His soft amethyst eyes meet a pair of brown ones, which unfortunately looked black and white to Yugi, but he didn't need color to tell who it was coming in.  
  
{Hey! It's Tea. She's ok!}  
  
Tea turned around and looked over at Yugi. She was holding a small dish in here hand and a smile spread across her face when she saw the little pups amethyst eyes staring back.  
  
"Hey, your awake", Tea said as she pushed some pillows out of the way and sat down.  
  
"Are you okay, Tea?" Yugi barked  
  
Tea didn't reply, but took her hand and quickly placed it over Yugi's mouth.  
  
"Shhhh", Tea instructed, "My mom doesn't know your up here, and if she finds out I'll have to put you outside."  
  
The thought of having to go back outside on his own again was enough to shut him up.  
  
"Oh," Tea said as she lowered the bowl she had in her hand to his nose, "I don't know if this is what you like, but the man at the pet store said it was the best."  
  
Yugi tipped his head over into the bowl and looked at the can shaped gravy blob at the bottom.  
  
{Dog. Food. I am NOT eating that.}  
  
Yugi looked back up at Tea's smiling face and then back at the food.  
  
{But if I don't eat it, I'll hurt Tea's feeling.}  
  
Yugi took one last look at Tea and then to the food which he could have sworn he saw bubbling.  
  
{Sorry Tea, but there is no way I'm going to eat that.}  
  
Tea looked at the puppy's scrunched up nose.  
  
"I... guess your not hungry," Tea said as she placed the bowl on the floor.  
  
{I'm starving! The last thing I ate was Tristan's malt, and I kinda lost intrust in mine after I saw Yami spit his everywhere, but some real food would be great.}  
  
Yugi began to wage his tail as the thought of real food came to mind. Tea laughed at the little puppy's excitement and ruffled his head.  
  
"You know", she said as she looked into his clear amethyst eyes, "you remind me of someone."Yugi's ear pricked up at the sound of Tea maybe recognizing him. "but I just can't put my finger on it."   
  
{Yugi! I'm Yugi. Come on Tea, you have to see that.}  
  
"Those eyes," Tea said as she leaned in for a closer look.  
  
{Come on, you've almost got it.}  
  
Tea was about to open her mouth and say something when Yugi let out a howl and began to scratch his back violently.  
  
{AHHHH! Something bite me! Get it off! Get it off!}  
  
Tea quickly grab his mouth and stopped his howling.  
  
"Are you crazy?" Tea squeaked, letting go of his mouth, "My mom will hear you."  
  
"Tea!" a voice from downstairs called.  
  
"Yes mom!" Tea replied signaling for the black puppy to not make a sound.  
  
"Honey, are you okay? What was that noise?"  
  
"That was just me," Tea lied, "I was...umm, cheering, for our soccer team... we won you know."  
  
"Oh, that's nice dear, just try to keep it down."  
  
"Okay mom"  
  
Tea relaxed against the pillows and sighed. "You almost got both of us in trouble."  
  
{I'm sorry Tea, it's just that something bite me really hard. I think it was a flea.}  
  
Yugi looked back over his shoulder at the spot where he had been bitten.  
  
{That really hurt!}  
  
"But what am I going to do with you tonight?" Tea asked putting her hand under Yugi's chin and pulling it to face her   
  
Yugi froze and gave Tea a look. {What... do you mean?}  
  
"I have to work late tonight and I can't leave you here alone", Tea said if almost to answer Yugi's unspoken question, "What if my mom finds you?"  
  
Yugi lowered his head.  
  
{I'm sorry Tea, I don't mean to be a burden.}  
  
"Hey! I know, maybe Yugi can watch you for me tonight and then I can pick you back up tomorrow."  
  
{Yugi's a little preoccupied at the moment, which means Yami will have to watch me, but whose going to which him?}  
  
"Come on", Tea announced, "let's go see."  
  
Tea and Yugi, limping on his front right paw, bounced off the bed and began to walk to the door. When they reached the door Tea looked back at Yugi and slapped her palm to her fore head.  
  
"I forgot", Tea sighed, "I can't just walked through the house with you, my mom will see."  
  
Tea peered around the room looking for something until her eyes finally spotted her backpack. She then smiled and looked back at Yugi.  
  
Yugi looked at the backpack Tea was looking at and then back to her to meet her smile.  
  
{Oh no! I am not getting in that. I'm not going to be some book you just shove into your backpack.}  
  
**~~**~~**  
  
Tea walked quietly through her kitchen with her backpack mounted upon her back with a large lump protruding from it. The lump would move around every few seconds and cause Tea's weight to shift and lose balance.  
  
"Be still back there."  
  
{Sorry! But if you didn't know ,there's not a lot of room in here, what with the blow drier, brush, hair spray, and all this makeup. Come to think of it, where do you put all your books at?}  
  
Tea was almost to the door when she heard...  
  
"Tea, where are you going?"  
  
Tea whirled around hitting her backpack against the bar as she did so.  
  
{Ouch!}  
  
"Mom," Tea said through a nerve voice, "I'm going to see Yugi and the other guys today."  
  
"Yugi?" Tea's mother pondered, "Isn't that, that short boy with the spiky you've had a crush on since kindergarten."  
  
Tea froze and turned beet red. "M..m, mom!"  
  
At the moment Yugi was having a similar reaction. He began to the feel the heat coming from his face. He had never seen a dog's fur turn red from embarrassment before, but he believed that if he had a mirror that's what color his fur would be. {C... crush? I always thought she liked Yami.}  
  
Tea's mother laughed. "Oh okay, you can go. So I guess you got the message without me telling you."  
  
"What message?" Tea asked.  
  
{*cough* Tea, I don't mean to interrupt, but could you hurry up? I can't breathe in here.}  
  
"Yeah, Joey called from Yugi's house this morning. He said it was important and that you needed to come over right away."  
  
{I wonder what's the matter.}  
  
"Oh, well then, I better get going." Tea said turning towards the door.  
  
"Tea? Why are you taking your backpack?"  
  
"Oh, we're ummm... we're studying for a test, bye mom."  
  
"Bye Tea."  
  
Tea reached for the door knob and existed the house. When she reached the sidewalk she looked back at her house to make sure no one was looking and knelt down and took off her backpack. She placed it gently on the ground and unzipped the top.  
  
Yugi's little head popped happily out of the bag and leapt out onto the sidewalk still holding his paw a little in the air to make sure he didn't hurt it an further. He took in a big puff of air, stretched and then looked at Tea.  
  
{Whoa, I'm glad to be out of there. I though I was going to die.}  
  
"Come on, let's get out of here before mom decides to look out the window and sees you." Tea said as she stood up and began to walk towards the Game Shop.  
  
Tea and Yugi steadily made there way to the Game Shop. Yugi was having to walk a little faster to keep up with Tea, which was no different then usual, but this time Yugi found something to do that was causing him to lang a bit.   
  
Yugi stopped and lowered himself to the ground before taking off and bounding straight into the nearest water puddle. His little paws became soaked with water and the small tide waves that came crashing out of the puddle would sometimes cover his back. A few spare droplets would sometimes reach his noise and cause him to snort with laughter as he keep doing the same thing at every puddle he reached. {Hey this isn't so bad. It's actually pretty fun.}  
  
"Hey," Tea laughed, "Come here, your getting all wet."  
  
Yugi ran up beside Tea and started to shake off. Tea gasped and cover her face as the loose wet droplets came flying off and hit Tea all over. She uncovered her eyes and gave the back puppy a looked, but she couldn't help but to laugh at the cute expression on his face. She looked up and smiled as the Game Shop came into sight.  
  
"Hey look, there it is."  
  
Yugi looked toward the small game shop that was so familiar to him. He waged his tail and took off at a fast limp towards the shop.   
  
{I can't WAIT to get home. I'm gonna go straight to my room and take a long nap. I hope Yami didn't worry about me. I can't wait to tell him what happened.}  
  
Yugi stopped short before reaching the game shop and gave it a sad look. {But I can't tell him what happened and he doesn't know who I am.} Yugi sat down with his head held low as Tea passed and gave him a funny look.   
  
"Hey, come on." She said as she reached the door and entered the Game Shop.  
  
Yugi didn't pay her any attention, he just sat there thinking. He knew that all his friends were inside, but he wasn't sure he was ready to go in yet. He looked up to see that Tea had already gone in and had left the door open. {How can I make them see me?} Yugi walked up to one of the puddles he hadn't yet played in and looked down at his reflection. He sighed. {I'm not even sure if I can see myself anymore.} Yugi gritted his teeth at his refection and then slapped the water with his good paw.  
  
"Hey"  
  
Yugi looked up to see Tea poking her head out the door becking for him to come in before she disappeared back into the house.  
  
Yugi sighed again and then stood to his paws. {Well, I guess it's time.}  
  
Yugi walked the distances between him and the shop and entered through the door. Inside he was meet by all of his friends, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Bakura, Duke, Yami, and Tea. They were all looking at him with blank expressions, not even a hint of happiest played across their faces. They weren't the faces he was use to seeing them wear. Yugi sat down on his hint legs and looked at them one by one. They did recognize him at all.  
  
{Only seven days...}  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Well, that ends chapter 3. So how was it? I have a question for all you readers. Okay, so we all know that when we get a dog we have to give it a name. So I was wondering if you guys could give me so help with the name. Yugi's dog character needs a name for the next or the next chapter after that. So if you have an idea for a cute dog name that would suit Yugi, then please leave it in a review. Thanks! ^_~ I hope you liked this chapter. See ya'll next chapter.  
  
Nightlight5 


	4. Meetings

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh  
  
Hey! I'm back! Sorry for the wait, but I just got back from an FBLA State Conference. Geez... three days in a motel away from home and away from my computer, *gasp* I almost died! Well anyways, I'm glad it's over and done with and now I can get back to writing. First of all, I would like to thank you all for all the wonderful names that you gave me for Yugi's dog character, but... as you know, he can only have one name, so... since I couldn't make up my mind which one to use, I have decided to put all the names in a hat and draw to see what Yugi's new name is. So I'll do that right now, *puts names inside the hat and then draws*. Let's see what I got. *looks at card* O.o" LOL! What are the odds that I actually picked this one, but... I think I'll wait and tell you what the name is later. What do you think? See, I knew you would want me to wait and not tell you the new name right now. Okay so, now on to the review responses!   
  
REVIEW RESPONSE:   
  
BAYLEEF: He is so cute, isn't he. It's funny, sometimes when I'm writing, I find myself saying 'Awwww', and I'm the one writing it! @_@. Well, here's the update, I hope you like it and thanks for the review!   
  
MITTENS NO HIKARI: Oh no! Not the puppy dog eyes! *hides* Okay Okay! Here's the update, just don't do the puppy dog eyes! *Yugi sits and eats his hamburger* Yugi: Arf! Nightlight5: Oh, Yugi says thank you for the review and for the hamburger. If he counted on Tea to feed he, he'd starve!   
  
YOKAI: Hey, that is a pretty good name, seeing the story is about friendship and all! Thanks!  
  
ROGUEANDKURT: lol, I'm glad you liked the 'puppy dog eyes' thing. Nightlight5: You know Yugi, a lot people think you are cute in this story. Maybe I should make plushes after you and give them out to all the reviews. Yugi: -_-". Thanks for the review rogueand kurt, PS Kurt is my favorite character from x-men!  
  
JILL: LOL, spot! That's funny. I like that! Oh and by the way, you will be pleased to know that the next chapter of "Back 2 the Future"will be up VERY soon. Thanks for the review.  
  
YAMI RISSA: Awww, Tenshi... Angel! Boy you people are really good at giving names. These are way better than mine! Thanks for the name and the review! ^_~  
  
ACME-RIAN: I love "Shaman King"! But I don't get the channel it comes on anymore. :( Oh well, I'll just the DVDs when they come off. Thanks for the two names ACME-Rian and for taking the time review!  
  
SORCERESS VANESSA: *hugs Yugi too* You know what! I think I'm going to start a poll at the front of every chapter! It's going to show how many times Yugi gets hugged in the reviews for each chapter and overall. What do you think? Yugi: Arf! {No!} Nightlight5: I knew you would like the idea! Yugi: -_-'. What you think Sorceress Vanessa? Thank you for the review and for the cutie name!  
  
UNA1: LOL, oh there is so much I want to say about this review! First of all I love all the names! One part confused me though, when you said your friend Lisa said she liked the name Booger, my first thought was that you were talking to me, because that's my real name. So I thought that was weird that your friend and the person writing this fic "Nightlight5" are both named Lisa. *Blushes* You refereed me to your friends? That's so sweet of you! ^-^ Oh and the picture! Your drawing it! That's so Kawaii! I definitely want to see it when you are done. Well, thank you so much for the reviews and all the wonderful names! ^_~   
  
/Blah/= Yugi to Yami  
  
//Blah//= Yami to Yugi  
  
'blah'= thinking  
  
{Blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
**~~**~~**= Change of scene  
  
TEST OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
Chapter 4: Meetings  
  
Yugi looked around at all of friends. He met each of their blank faces and sighed with down cast eyes.  
  
Tea smiled at all of her friends and then reached down and scooped up the black puppy presenting him to all her friends.  
  
"So... what do you think?" Tea asked.  
  
Joey scratched the back of his head and then walked over to Tea. "Tea, what is that?"  
  
"Um, Joey... it's a dog."  
  
"I know that," Joey rolled his eyes sarcastically, "I mean, whose is it?"  
  
"Well, he's mean."  
  
"Your mom's letting you have a dog?" Tristan asked  
  
"Well, no not exactly," Tea admitted, "She doesn't exactly know, that I have him."  
  
"She doesn't know?"  
  
"No Joey, I've been hiding him in my room," Tea said rubbing the top of Yugi's head, "I mean, it's the least I can do after this little fellow saved my life."  
  
Everyone in the room that wasn't looking at Tea before was now staring at her in confusion.  
  
"This 'puppy' saved your life, Tea?" Joey asked giving the puppy a doubtful glare, "What happened?"  
  
Tea placed Yugi on the coffee table in front of Yami, who really didn't seem to be interested in Tea's story, and began to tell Joey and the others what had happened the night before. Yami glanced over at the little black puppy sitting on the coffee table. The puppy generally seemed to be down about something and held a bit of sadness in his deep amethyst eyes.   
  
Yugi looked up and met Yami's crimson eyes. "Hey, Yami" Yugi barked and hassled.  
  
Yami cocked a eyebrow at the pup's sudden burst of excitement and slightly turned away in annoyance.  
  
Yugi bit his hung out tongue and cocked his head to the side making a confused whimper.  
  
{What's his problem? It's not like he's the one stuck as a dog.}  
  
Yami was now facing towards to the armrest of the couch seeming to be deep in thought. Yugi could tell something was wrong with Yami and desperately wanted to help, but Yami didn't seem to want to be bothered by a little puppy...  
  
{Oh well... to bad.}  
  
Yugi jumped down from the coffee table and trotted over to the end of the couch. Looking up, he saw the armrest directly above him and a lock of Yami's golden bangs hanging over the edge, telling Yugi that Yami had moved a little closer to the end of the couch. The armrest, from where Yugi sat, seemed a lot higher up then he originally expecting it to be. Yugi decided to go ahead and try to make the jump anyways. He squished close to the floor holding his right paw in the air and wiggling his tail end.  
  
{Here... we... go.}  
  
Yugi leaped into the air with amazing height, unfortunately for Yugi and Yami, he had over calculated the distance up to the armrest and went well over it.  
  
Yami sat quietly to himself thinking of what to do about the past night, unfortunately his thoughts were cut short by a sudden blur of something black, fuzzy, and hard connecting with he's face. He jumped back holding his nose in shock as the culprit of the attack rolled over the armrest and into his lap.  
  
Yugi, a little dazed from the impact, vision swirled causing everything in the room to double.  
  
{Let's go again... Let's go again!}  
  
Yugi's senses slowly came back to him and his vision came back together as one. Looking straight up, he met the eyes of his very much shocked Yami holding his nose looking a bit 'ticked off'.  
  
{I'm so sorry Yami... I...I didn't mean too.}  
  
Yami removed his hand from his nose and looked down at the puppy crudely. He was about to shove him off when two things caught his eyes. The puppy's eyes... they were so familiar and yet they seemed to plead for his forgiveness. He had seen those eyes before, but he was sure he had never seen them before on this dog. Giving the pup another look over he noticed something shiny protruding out from under his red bandana. He reached down to pick it up, but was stopped when the puppy started to get up from his lap.  
  
Yugi looked up at Yami and winced when he saw Yami motion to push him off. When Yami had his hand half way down ready to push him off, he stopped. Yugi sighed inward and wondered what made him change his mind. Yugi could feel Yami's thoughtful gaze pierce through him and made him squirm causing his dog tag he had never seen before to slide out from under his bandana. Finally, not being able to take anymore of the endless staring, Yugi tried to get up but was surprise when Yami reached down and picked him up himself.  
  
Yami picked up the pup and brought him to stand on his hind legs while he held his front legs in one hand, careful not to hurt his sore paw. Using his other hand he dug under his bandana and pulled out the triangular name tag. The name tag bore a striking resemblance to his and Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. In the middle of the triangle, the Eye of Horus was engraved along with writing under it. The writing looked to be an another language. Yami assumed it was Egyptian since that was where the Eye of Horus was from. Yami began to rub the sooth metal across his fingers letting it put him in a trance of deep thought.   
  
Yugi moved his back paw to a different position on Yami's lap hoping to get his attention. He back legs were beginning to hurt from standing upright, after all, his body was no longer made for that.  
  
{Hello? Earth to Yami. This is starting to get painful.}  
  
Yugi was about to give up, when Tea's voice brought Yami out of his trance.  
  
"Awww, looks like someone's making a new friend."  
  
Yami blushed ever so slightly and let go of the pup's front paws letting him plop back down into his lap.  
  
"That has nothing to do with what we are talking about Tea," Joey said reaching over and picking Yugi up out of Yami's lap. "Didn't you say you found him out on the street?  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"So... did you take him to the vet? What if he has fleas?"Joey said holding the pup out away from him.  
  
{Hey! I don't have fleas! Okay, maybe one, but that's all.}   
  
"Joey, need I remind you that you came from the streets, and I think that if we can deal with your fleas, then I don't think we'll have a problem dealing with his." Tristan teased taking the puppy away from Joey.  
  
{What do I look like, a hot potato? Why don't you just pass me around the room?}  
  
"Hey! I don't have fleas!"  
  
"Well, I think he's adorable." Serenity chimed in scooping Yugi up from Tristan.  
  
Tristan smiled and scooted a little closer to Serenity. "I was just thinking that myself," Tristan said trying his best to impress Serenity over the lest little thing, "I just love animals."  
  
{I don't want you thinking I'm adorable!}  
  
"Alright," Joey said in an annoyed tone whiled grabbing Tristan and making enough room for him to scoot in between Tristan and is sis, "that's enough from you, ya big buffoon."  
  
Serenity rubbed her face across Yugi's fur and then started to scratch behind his ear. Yugi leaned into her hand and started to wag his tail.  
  
{The ear scratching thing. I like the ear scratching thing.}  
  
Tea giggled at the small puppy and then noticed Yami sitting on the couch solemnly watching. "What's the matter Yami?" Tea expected Yami to answer her but instead Joey was the one to cut in,  
  
"Tea, we need to tell you something, something we would have already told ya if you hadn't have come in with a story of your own."  
  
Tea felt puzzled for the must part, but she also felt worried. For the first time she had really taken good look around the room and noticed that they were short one very short person.  
  
"Where's Yugi?" Tea asked still searching the room. "And where's Ryou?"   
  
"Ryou had to take care of some business this morning," Joey said running his fingers through his hair, " but he's suppose to join us later today."  
  
"And Yugi..."   
  
"Yugi's gone."  
  
Everyone in the room looked up towards Yami, who had finally decided to talk.  
  
"What do you mean he's gone?" Tea asked almost to the point of yelling.  
  
"Now calm down Tea, we don't know for sure if Yugi is gone." Joey said trying to calm a near frantic Tea.  
  
Yami stood up off the couch. "I don't know how much more gone you can get Joey..., he's not here now and he didn't come home last night."  
  
Joey took a defensive step back at the snappiest in Yami's voice  
  
Yami frowned at himself when he saw Joey coward back a bit and rubbed his temples. "I'm sorry Joey... it's just..."  
  
"It's okay man, I'm worried about Yugi too," Joey admitted, "It's just that maybe... maybe he meet a friend on the way home and went to his house."  
  
Yami shook his head in disagreement. "That's what I'm afraid of, that he did meet someone on the way home, but I don't think they were on the friendly level, besides, Yugi would have told me if he were going to a friends house."  
  
"What makes you think he met someone on the way home?" Serenity asked stroking the sides of Yugi's neck.  
  
{Just a little to the left... there! That's the spot.}  
  
"He called me through the link last night after he left your's and Joey's house and told me that he was on his way home. About thirty minutes later I heard him yell my name through the link, and then it went dead. I haven't seen or heard from him since then."  
  
Yugi looked up at Yami and saw who sad he looked. He felt bad. He felt bad, because he knew that all of this was his fault. He squirmed for a second in Serenity's arms until finally she let him jump down. He's soft padded feet hit the ground with a pop and he silently wished he had been more carful with the weight he put on his front right paw. Limping slightly, he made his way over to Yami and sat down by Yami's leg and looked up at his puzzled face.  
  
{I'm sorry Yami, this is all my fault. Sometimes I feel like all I'm good for is making trouble.}  
  
"So what now?" Tristan asked.  
  
"Well, I say that were not getting anything done by just sittin' here, so I say we go look for him. What do you say?"  
  
Tea faced Joey and nodded her head. "I'll help."  
  
"Me too," Serenity said cheerfully.  
  
"Make that three," Tristan stated.  
  
Yami looked around the room at all of his and Yugi's friends. He was touched that they would be so willing to help out their friend, although it didn't shock him. Yugi had always had a strong bond with all his friends and would do anything for them as well. "Thank you"  
  
"No problem man"  
  
Yugi barked and wagged his tail  
  
{Thanks guys and count me in! I'll try my best to help you look for me, even though it might not be in the way you all are looking.}  
  
"Then let's go!" Joey yelled running for the door, with everybody close behind him.  
  
Yugi was close on Yami's heels and was about to exist the door.  
  
{hmm, I'm going to spend all day looking for myself? This is going to be a long day.}  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Well that ends chapter 4. I hope you all enjoyed it. Oh and yes I know I didn't use the drawn name yet, but that only means you all get to wait till next time to find out what it is! Doesn't that sound like fun? Oh and by the way, I have also decided to do something a little different with all of the names you guys have given me, but you'll have to wait for next chapter to see. Anyways, I have another question for all you reviewers. Should I put Duke in this fic? I'm on the fence on whether I should include him or whether I should just leave him be. Thanks much, your answers and reviews mean bunches to me! Bye for now!  
  
Nightlight5 


	5. Just a Walk in the Park

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
REVIEWER RESPONSES:  
  
SORCERESS VANESSA: *grabs Yugi* Yugi! Speak to me! Yugi: *bark* Nightlight5: -_-' I didn't mine that kinda speak... I mean, can you still breathe from all that hugging? Yugi: Just barely, but it's okay, it only means that they love me. Nightlight5: Oh well, you know what they say don't you? Yugi: No. Nightlight5: You always hurt the one you love. Yugi: O.o" Nightlight5: Thanks SV for the review! ^-^  
  
ROGUEANDKURT: Thank you for the review and for the compliment, and you will be happy to know, that there will be no Duke, so, I hope you like it.  
  
YOKAI THE TIGER DEMON AKA YOKAI: Well, I'm glad that you liked that I liked your name. Boy, that could get confusing really quick. Thanks for the review.  
  
KITTY NEKO: Your wish... is my command, so here's the update and thanks for taking the time to review.  
  
STARLITE-PHOENIX: Oh No! You ran off with my (don't own Yu-Gi-Oh) characters! But you kicked Tea, so we'll call it even! I'm so glad you think the story is cute and I hope you like this next chapter as well. Thanks for the review, it means a lot.  
  
JILL: Oh dear... all that coughing, did you catch a cold? Oh and like I told RAK, there will be no Duke, so I do hope you enjoy, and I think you'll like the end. ^_~ Thanks for the review!  
  
BAYLEEF: LOL! Nightlight5: Yugi, you're for sell in a shop window! Yugi: *starts to sing* Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow. Nightligh5: Oh cheer up Yugi-boy. Yugi: Who do you think you are Pegasus? Nightlight5: -_- No. Well, thanks so much for the review!   
  
MITTENS NO HIKARI: Okay Already! Those puppy dog eyes... I can't take it anymore. A person can only take so much sad cuteness at one time. So here..., here's your update, just please, don't look at me like that. Thanks for the review!  
  
UNA1: Hehe, I'm glad you liked the scene, I really enjoyed writing it. Well, I can tell that the next scene that you are waiting for is not going to be for a while, so we can all enjoy lots of random puppy humor, although this chapter might not be my best so far, but don't worry, in a few chapters after this one I have another interesting twist to throw into the story. Thanks for the review! ^_~  
  
ERINAMATION-LIMITED2-NOTHING: O.O Boy, this has to be the creepiest review I have ever gotten. That face..., it's just kinda staring at me. *hides behind Yugi* Yugi: Oh yeah, you're hiding behind a little dog, yeah, you're really hidden alright. Nightlight5: Oh, well, Thanks for the face review that won't stop staring at me *shivers*!   
  
DESPERATE: Awww, that's so sweet of you to say, but don't worry about not having a fave author list, your words are enough. I thank you for stopping by and reviewing! ^-^  
  
/Blah/= Yugi to Yami  
  
//Blah//= Yami to Yugi  
  
'blah'= thinking  
  
**~~**~~**= Scene change  
  
{blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
TEST OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
CHAPTER 5: Just a Walk in the Park  
  
The Domino City square was crowded with the hustle and bustle of many different kinds of people trying to find a good way to spend there Saturday.  
  
The large fountain shed crystal clear water down it's side ripping the reflection of a small black puppy peering down into. Sighing with a small whimper, he rolled of the ledge of the fountain and plopped onto the ground. The sky shined down upon him warming his cool fur making him sleepy.  
  
{I'm. So. Bored. What are they doing over there anyways?}  
  
Yugi yawned widely looking over at his friends who had been huddled up and pointing in different directions for what seemed like forever. He picked himself up and trotted over to the middle of the huddle.   
  
"So it's settled", Yugi heard Yami's voice boom over the circle. "Tea and Serenity will search the school grounds, Tristan and I will look at 'Kaiba Land'..."  
  
"And I'll check the Arcade," Joey announced.  
  
"No playing while your there Joey," Tea scolded, "were out here to look for Yugi."  
  
"Whose playing," Joey shrugged, "I'm all about finding my bud."  
  
"Then will meet back here at 5 o'clock," Yami instructed looking at his watch."  
  
"Right." They all said in unison and left off in there different directions.   
  
Yugi, who was to busy scratching between his ear to notice there departure, lifted his head up to the sun and sneezed.  
  
{Bless me!}  
  
Shaking his head for a minute to clear his vision, he finally noticed that he was by himself.  
  
{Huh?}  
  
"Hey! You can't leave me!" Yugi barked, "You can't find me without me!"  
  
Joey began to walk off towards the arcade when all of a sudden a piercing howl whipped through his ears cause him to jump. Turning around, he saw the small black pup sitting on his haunches howling into the air. Joey smiled slightly and walked back to the puppy.  
  
Yugi sat back and howled before feeling the sensation of being picked up. His breathe caught at the sudden raise and made him feel sick for a second before being turned around to face his holder.  
  
"Joey? I thought you were gone?"  
  
"Hey there little guy," Joey greeted, "Did we forget you?"  
  
{Yes... but it's okay Joey, I'm sure you guys didn't mean too.}  
  
"Sorry about that, I guess were just not use to having you around." Joey told the pup as he set it back down on the ground. "But don't worry, you can come with me, seeing that everybody else got a partner except for me."   
  
Joey stood back up and began to walk off with little Yugi trailing right behind him.  
  
**~~**~~**  
  
Joey and Yugi reached the arcade with no problem. As they entered in many different sounds could be heard radiating from the different games strode around the room. Various lights flickered here and there announcing a new win and short after victory cries from the winner. Joey began to look around the room ignoring the fact of how bad it was killing him not to be able to play.  
  
At that moment Joey had stopped in front of his favorite game. It was some sort of fighting game, where two guys (or woman) would face of in battle to see who could kick each others butt the hardest.   
  
Yugi, who again wasn't paying attention to where he was going, ran straight into Joey's leg causing his face to smash flat and his eyes to go cross.   
  
{I'm goin' need... a little warning next time, Joey. Joey?}  
  
The little pup perked up towards his _much_ taller than usual friend and made a face at him. At that moment Joey was plaster to the game, locked into a heated battle of skill and strength, or as he liked to called it, hand-eye coordination.  
  
{Joey... I thought Tea told you not to play, but then again, when do you ever listen to what Tea says?}  
  
"Yeah, Alright... Looks like that's another win for Joey!" Joey cried with his classic victory smile and standard laugh. But this time, his celebration was, different. It was like, some part of his usually gloating and rejoicing was missing.  
  
Joey's laughing soon fell dry and he sighed deeply. Looking down at the black puppy, he sat down by the game and leaned his back on it.  
  
"You know something pup," Joey said smiling weakly, "It's just not the same without Yugi here to give me a beating and then put me in my place."  
  
Yugi whimper a bit and then laid his head of Joey's knee. He felt so bad, like all his friends were having to suffer because of him. The Shadow Realm had _nothing_ on this kinda feeling, it was the worst. Yugi shut his eyes in thought and quickly opened them as if he had been hit by a sudden wave of thought.  
  
Yugi stood back up to his paws and barked at Joey with a wag of his tail. "I know the Yugi you know isn't here right now Joey, but what if I play you as a dog? You'll have a better advantage."  
  
Joey jumped and blinked at the sudden bark that rang throughout his ears. He watched as the puppy continued to bark at him wagging his tail so fast he could feel the breeze coming from it. When the puppy had finally finished barking, he watched as the black pup jumped onto a medium sized box sitting beside the machine and then hopped off onto the machine. The puppy barked fiercely as if challenging Joey to stand up and play him.  
  
Joey picked himself up and returned back to the game.  
  
"Are you trying to challenge me?" Joey asked in disbelief.  
  
Yugi only replied with a short snappy bark.  
  
"I can't believe this," Joey said scratching the back of his head, "but then again, I've seen weirder things happen than this, so I'll go for it."  
  
Yugi barked his approval as Joey leaned down to the front of the machine and inserted four tokens. Suddenly the game flashed to light as the player screen came up, giving the players a choose of what character they wanted to play.  
  
"Here, let me help you with that pup, seeing you are only...  
  
But Joey was cut short in middle sentence as the puppy stepped on the button and choose the player that Yugi always fought with.   
  
"Ummm, weird," Joey stated more to himself than to the dog, "That's the character Yugi always fights with, and weird that a dog choose his own character."  
  
Yugi parted his lips, showing his teeth in a doggie grin. He stepped back and prepared himself as the match was about to begin. He looked around at the layout of the buttons that he knew so well. He knew he would have a little more trouble this time beating Joey, not because Joey had gotten better than him or anything, it's just that this time, he would have to play with paws instead of hands, and that would serve as a problem. He figured by the layout that he wouldn't really have any problems with attacking and jumping or anything like that, seeing that those controls laid flat of the control panel, but he was a bit concerned about movement. Movement was a key part in the game, and since moving required using a joy-stick, it would be hard for Yugi to move his character at all. But, he would some who have to manage since the match was about to start in... 3... 2... 1... -Go-!  
  
Joey's character quickly advanced of Yugi's swinging his sword fiercely, but Yugi knew that in this situation he could use the block button to hold Joey off for a moment and keep him from advancing. In doing so, Joey's character stopped and was held in a stalemate with Yugi's character. Joey's mouth dropped open as he looked over at the little puppy's paw stepping down on the block button.  
  
Yugi caught Joey's expression out the corner of his eye and used this opportunity to launch a counter strike against Joey. Pushing back against the stalemate, Yugi was able to break free and bring his sword down onto Joey's character's chest. The hit was critical and it cost Joey quiet a lot of 'Health Points'.  
  
Joey whipped his head up as he heard his character's yell in pain. He saw his character drop to the ground as his 'HP' lowered to a considerably low number. Still caught in his own dumbfoundness, he turned his attention back to the screen and began to power up his biggest attack.  
  
Yugi's eyes went wide as he saw what Joey was attempting to do. Joey was trying to use his character's ultimate wipe out attack. This attack would ultimately wipe Yugi out of the game despite anything he tried. The only other option was to try and stop him before he was done powering up, but that required movement. To stop Joey from powering up, he would have to hit Joey with a critical attack before he unleashed his attack.   
  
Of all the controls he could use, the joy-stick was the one he needed most right now. There had to be someway he could use it. He was running out of time. Joey was almost done powering when an idea hit him.  
  
{I hope this works, because if it doesn't... the only thing I'm going to end up with is a really big headache.}  
  
Yugi quickly let go of all his controls, letting down his guard, and rammed his head into the joy-stick causing his character to run straight for Joey. When his fighter was close enough he stretched his back leg out as far as he could and pressed the attack button, sending a critical hit straight to Joey's chest and causing his 'HP' to drop to zero.  
  
Joey was dumbfounded as his character fell to the ground and the dog's to stand in victory. "You, beat me," was the only words that Joey could seem to say at the moment. "How could a puppy have beaten me?"  
  
Yugi sat back on the control panel and looked up at Joey.  
  
{I maybe a dog Joey, but I'm still 'King of Games'.}  
  
Joey seemed to understand the pup as he smirked and crossed his arms. " Okay, nobody is going to find out about this. Tristan would never let me live this down."  
  
Yugi barked a happily growl of agreement and held his head high.  
  
"Hey no gloating, besides I want a rematch, and this time, your going down Yu..."  
  
Yugi perked his ears up at the sound of Joey almost saying his name.   
  
{That's right Joey. All I need is for you to call me Yugi. Come on, you know it's me.}  
  
Joey paused in middle sentence and scratched his head in disappointment to see the dog sitting on the control panel instead of his best bud. But still, something about the pup just seemed too familiar to him.   
  
"That's weird," Joey said to the wide eyed puppy, "but I almost called you..."  
  
"Excuse me sir, but do you have trouble reading?"  
  
Joey turned around and glared at a tall skinny man with glasses that was wearing an employee t-shirt. "What are you trying to say, that I'm dumb?"  
  
"No sir, I was simply pointing out that you have failed to reading the sign on the door, you know, that one there, with the words in big bold print," The skinny geek pointed to the large sign on the arcade door that said 'No Pets Allowed'.  
  
"Oh, sorry mister, but this dog isn't a pet... it's not even mine."  
  
"Well, then," the arcade employee said as the pulled a phone from his pocket, "then I'll just have to call animal control to take care of our little problem then won't I?"  
  
Joey grabbed the phone from the employee and turn it off. "Hey man, we ain't looking for any trouble, I'll just put him outside for a second."  
  
"I knew you'd see it my way." the employee said snatching his phone back before walking off to cause more trouble.  
  
"Yeah, well," Joey said shaking his fist at the employee, "how would you like to not see anything for the next week."  
  
Yugi jumped off the control panel of the fight game and looked back at Joey.  
  
{Come Joey, It's not worth fight over and getting kicked out the arcade for the rest of your life.}  
  
Joey preceded to the door and opened it as the pup trotted off with Joey right behind him.  
  
"Sorry about this pup," Joey said patting the top of his head, "but your going to have to stay out here for a minute. I want to check the back room just in case I missed something that might help us find Yugi. So wait right here until I get, okay?"  
  
{Sure Joey.}  
  
Yugi watched as Joey disappeared back into the arcade and left him alone on the side of the street. The streets were still as busy as they were when he had first stepped out the door today and the sun was beating down heavy rays of sunshine that seem to be even warmer to him because of the layers of black hair that he was covered in. Suddenly he felt a rumble emit from the pits of his stomach and he whimpered slightly.   
  
{I forgot, I haven't had a thing to eat in almost two days. But if I waiting for someone to feed me, especially Tea, I'm going to be waiting for a long time.}  
  
Yugi stood up and began to trotted off down the sidewalk looking for someway to get something to eat.  
  
{I know I told Joey that I would wait right there, but I'll be back before he even notices I'm gone.}  
  
Yugi's small patted feet pounded along the hot pavement as several people passed by. Some children would usually stop for a few minutes to pet him or to see he could do any tricks, but he wasn't rolling over and playing dead for anybody. Coming to the end of the street, he stopped and saw a white rectangular truck parked in the middle of the park. The truck had the familiar look of a Domino City ice cream truck.  
  
{Hey, ice cream is food, so I'm not complaining. I think I'll go check it out.}  
  
Yugi stood with a group of people and waited for the light to turn green so he could walk across the street. When it was finally time to walk Yugi shot out like a bolt from the crowd and ran over to the truck. He circled the truck for a second before taking a step back.   
  
{That's not an ice cream truck. It's a... dog pound truck!}  
  
"Well, well, well, look at what we've got here"  
  
Yugi gulped as he turned around to be met by an middle aged man in a dog catcher's uniform and holding a large net.  
  
"Looks like today is my luck day. Come on pup, I'm not going to hurt ya." the middle aged man said as he swung the net at Yugi.  
  
Yugi rolled out of the way, just barely dodging the net. Standing again, he dodge the net once more and took off running with the dog catcher doing his best to keep up. Yugi tried everything from dodging through bushes, to hiding behind trees, but nothing worked.  
  
{Geez... I'm never going to get rid of this guy.}  
  
Yugi was getting tired, but he noticed, so was the dog catcher, but he didn't know if he could out last him.   
  
{Please let him run out of steam before me.}  
  
As if an answer to his prayer, Yugi just barely spotted a familiar figure up ahead.  
  
{It's Bakura!}  
  
Yugi pushed all his energy to the limits and made a mad dash for Bakura. When he finally got to him, he hide behind his left leg and mustered up a short bark at the dog catcher, who was steadily making his way over.  
  
Bakura was on his way to meet his friend a the center of Domino City Hall when he felt something brush by his leg and stop behind it. He blink as he bent over and spotted an exhausted looking black dog leaning against the back of his leg.  
  
"Hey there little fellow," Bakura smiled, "what are you doing?"  
  
{Bakura... boy am I ever... glad to see... you.}  
  
Bakura looked back up when here felt someone fast approaching. He frowned when he saw the local dog catcher running towards him and looked back at the black pup.  
  
"Looks like you've gotten yourself into a spot of trouble, haven't you?" Bakura commented in his thick British accent.  
  
"Excuse me child," the dog catcher said catching his breath, "but I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the dog."  
  
Yugi winced when he heard the dog catcher's voice. He blinked up at Bakura when he saw him looking down at him. Yugi was too tired to put up a fight, so the only thing he could do was trust that Bakura would do the best thing, but then again, Bakura didn't know that he was Yugi.   
  
{There's no way I'm going to get out of here without being caught. I might as well just give myself up while I still have some energy left in me.}  
  
Yugi slowly picked his self and scooted front. The pain seeped back into his right paw as he sat down in front of the dog catcher.  
  
{I thought my paw was getting better. I guess all that running I just did didn't help.}  
  
"Decide to turn yourself in, did ya?" the dog catcher asked as he bent over to pick up the little pup.  
  
"No wait!"  
  
{Huh?}  
  
Bakura ran forward and picked the black puppy up before the dog catcher could. "No, you can't take him, because...ummm, because he's, mine."  
  
{Bakura?}  
  
"This here is _your_ dog?"  
  
"Y..yes, he's mine."  
  
Yugi sighed in relief and relaxed in Bakura's arms a bit.  
  
"So, if he's your's, then what's his name?"  
  
Bakura bit his lip as he felt the puppy tense up. "He his name? Well, his name is..." Bakura began to rack his brain for any name that sounded half descent, but nothing came to mind. He began to look around at stores and street signs or anything for that matter that might help him come up with a name, but still, nothing came to mind.  
  
'Darn!,' Bakura thought to himself, 'now it looks like I've gotten myself into a spot of trouble. Wait a second! That's it, I'll use that name!'  
  
The middle aged dog catcher became impatient as Bakura felt the puppy's pleading eyes upon him. "His name is spot."  
  
The dog catcher blinked at Bakura for a moment as the puppy in his arms face faltered.  
  
{Spot? You've got to be kidding me...  
  
"Well, Mr...umm..."  
  
"It's Bakura"  
  
"...Bakura. If I see your dog out roaming around again without a leash on, I'll be forced to take him in."  
  
"Yes sir, I assure you, it won't happen again"  
  
The dog catcher gave Bakura a glare and then gave Yugi the same look before turning and leaving. Bakura and Yugi both let out a sigh of relief.  
  
Bakura looked down at the little puppy, who was looking as if he were about to fall asleep. "Well Spot, I guess your mine now."  
  
{Don't call me that... but Bakura..., thanks, you're a true friend, even if you don't know it.}  
  
Bakura smiled as the small puppy curled up into a little ball and fell fast asleep. He tighten his grip on the pup, so not to drop him before making his way out of the park to meet his friends.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: And that ends chapter 5, Yes Yes, I know that I did give you Yugi's new name in this chapter, but there is still a few more things I want to do with all of your names that you have given me, and plus, there is still a chance for Yugi to have another name... confused? In a later chapter all will be revealed, but for now, I'm out of here. Byes! ^-^  
  
Nightlight5 


	6. A New Home?

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh  
  
Hey! I'm back with the 6th chapter of 'Test of Friendship'! Sorry it took so long for me to get it in, I was looking for the perfect theme for the 6th chapter and it just now hit me, so I hope you enjoy! By the way, if anybody is interested in reading a really good story, I highly suggest that the read Dreamer Wolf's fic called 'The Balance of Shadows', the story is about " Yugi hears a strange voice in his soul room. A Yami and Hikari are met. A strange beginning to the Shadow Realm, and someone wants to sever Yugi and Yami's souls to make the shadows grow. Can Yami, Bakura, and the new yami protect their Hikari's?" This fic is way too good for me not to tell all you guys about it. I give it two thumbs up and I'm sure you will too. ^-^   
  
REVIEW RESPONSE:  
  
Jill: YAY! I'm so glad that you're glad... but what part confused you?? Thanks for the review!   
  
moonkid3734: Thank you and here is the next chapter.  
  
Erinamation-limited2-nothing: *hides behind the same rock* Now your other side is scaring me. *hides behind puppy Yugi* Yugi: Grrr... Nightlight5: Umm, I'm just going to move over there... thank you for the review!  
  
UnknownDarkMystery: Lol, funny you should ask that...but I'll just let you read the story and then you can tell me if you are happy with what I did. Thanks for the review.  
  
crystal crittenden: Thank you! I hope that you like this chapter and here is the update.  
  
SilverKnight7: I'm glad you like it and here is your update. Thanks!  
  
Una1: LOL, I'm glad you like it. I didn't know Tristan had a dog?! That would work perfectly, because I was going to... well, I'll talk to you about what I was going to do later. You have to tell me about Tristan's dog. Thanks for the info and for the review! Enjoy.  
  
Dreamer Wolf: Yeah, I guess Joey is use to the weirdness but can you blame him with all that he has been through, but still. I hope you like this chapter and plus I'm looking forward to your next update as well. I'm beginning to think that you have dropped off the face of the earth. ^_~  
  
Sorceress Vanessa: Lol! Yes, Joey almost did it, but almost doesn't quiet cut the cake. That's to bad too, all he needed was for Joey to say his name and Yugi would have had one vote on his side, but now he still has none. Thanks for the review!  
  
Bayleef: Yeah well, Bakura's not so good with the names, besides, he didn't have very long to make up a name so he had to work with what he could think of, but... I'm still working with all the names you guys are giving me so not to worry. Thanks for the review!  
  
Ente: *blushes* Ah! I'm blushing! That's sweet of you to say that, and for being so nice, I think I'll update! So here you go, enjoy and thank you for the review!  
  
PyroDragon2006: I'm glad you enjoy reading it, but don't look at me... Bakura gave him the name not me! Bakura: What?! Don't blame this off on me. Nightlight5: But you named him! Bakura: Did not! Nightlight5: Grrr, I'll take care of you later, anyways, thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy!  
  
black blade: I tried to tell Bakura that very same thing, but he just had to call him Spot. Bakura: Stop telling people it was my idea! Nightlight5: *blinks* Anyways, Thanks!  
  
WildCat Tomo-Chan: Awww, I guess it is sad isn't it. Thank you and here's a update for you.  
  
Lilblue-Hedggie: Hehe, I couldn't help but let Yugi beat Joey, I just couldn't help it. I'm glad you like, and Thank you for the review!  
  
/Blah/= Yugi to Yami  
  
//Blah//= Yami to Yugi  
  
**~~**~~**= Scene change  
  
{Blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
TEST OF FRIENDSHIP  
  
Chapter 6: A New Home?  
  
Bakura had been walking in the park for a few minutes now and had just come out the front gate. From there, Domino Center was only a block away. He walked along the sidewalk slowly picking up his pace with every step, but didn't run, he was afraid he might wake up the small puppy that was curled up in his arms. He knew he was late meeting his friends and the chances of them still being there was slim to none. But still, he had promised to at least show up, and that is what he intended to do.  
  
Bakura reached the large fountain in the middle of Domino. He began to look around for the gang but as he had suspected, they had already left. "I knew they would've already gone out to look for Yugi," Bakura lectured himself, "especially with Yami driving the search." Bakura turned back around and headed back towards his house. "Well, I guess I'll just call them late and see how things went, beside," Bakura said now directing his voice towards the sleeping puppy, "I have to get you home and settled in, and there's no telling how my yami's going to take to you."  
  
**~~**~~**  
  
Bakura took his keys from his pocket and quietly unlocked the door. With a click, the door swung open and Bakura creped in and shut the door. "Phew, I'm glad he's still asleep..."  
  
"Ryou!!"  
  
Bakura jumped when he heard his yami calling him by his last name. Bakura's yami had started calling him Ryou ever since they had been split. Yami Bakura didn't like having his hikari call him 'Yami Bakura', because it was to much to say just for one person's name. So when no one else was around Yami Bakura would always call his hikari Ryou and Bakura would always call his yami Bakura. (Yami Bakura= Bakura; Bakura= Ryou ^-^ I hope I didn't confuse anyone!).  
  
"... Yes?" Ryou said as he made his way into the living room were his yami was fuming on the couch.  
  
"Where have you been?! Have you ever heard of leaving a note?!" Bakura barked  
  
"Sorry, I...I forgot." Ryou stuttered.  
  
"So, where were you, and stop stuttering you know I hate that!"  
  
"I'm sorry..."  
  
"Stop apologizing."  
  
"Would you just let me finish?" Ryou said raising his voice a little.  
  
"By all means, don't let me interrupt you."  
  
"Fine, I went to meet my friends to help look for Yugi and I got there to late and they were all gone, so I came home."  
  
Bakura's once angered face curved itself into a smirk as he leaned back on the couch. "That's right, the brat's missing. The poor Pharaoh must be devastated."  
  
Ryou didn't reply. He know it was useless to fight with his yami. They would only continue to yell until one of them, which was usually Ryou, gave up and left the room.  
  
Bakura continued to smirk waiting for Ryou to argue back, but he never did. He snicked a peek up at Ryou and saw him just standing there with a defeated look upon his face. Bakura felt kinda hurt when his hikari didn't want to fight back, but instead gave that 'you just killed my best friend' look. Bakura hated to see that look. He had finally come to accept his hikari as a friend, although he would never admit it, and he did want to hurt him... well, not to bad anyways.  
  
"What, cat got your tongue?" Bakura teased, but only received a head shake.  
  
Bakura could tell they weren't getting anywhere with the conversation, so he decided to change it and he had just spotted the prefect thing to talk about.  
  
Bakura took a double take at the large lump of fur at Ryou was holding and couldn't help but ask. "Ryou, what the heck is that thing you're holding?"  
  
Ryou looked down at the sleeping puppy and seemed to brighten up a bit. "It's a puppy, see?" Ryou handle out the puppy for Bakura to take it, but that wasn't about to happen.  
  
Bakura scooped back on the couch and made a face in disgust. "Urgh... it looks like a mutated Kuriboh."  
  
"No it doesn't, just come here, he won't bit."  
  
Bakura bit his lip, got up, and walked over. Ryou held out the pup and Bakura hesitated before taking it. He didn't look like he was having a good time holding it, because he keep it held out away from his body and was giving it a funny look. But what he was soon to find out was, that Yugi wasn't liking it neither.  
  
Yugi opened eyes sleepily and yawned. Blinking a few times, he could see a fuzzy image of someone in front of him. Finally he was able to tell that the figure that was holding him was Yami Bakura.  
  
{Oh, it's just Yami Bakura...}  
  
Yugi was about to fall back asleep when he realized what he had just thought.  
  
{Yami Bakura!!}  
  
Yugi's eyes widen as he let out a snarl "Put me down!"  
  
Unbeknownst to Bakura, he was about to comply with Yugi's request. Out of pure shock, Bakura dropped the puppy on to the couch and took a step back and away from the bad tempered hair ball.  
  
{Oof! Maybe I should've added gently.}  
  
"Bakura!" Ryou whined as he knelt down next to the couch. "Be more careful, what if you'd hurt him."  
  
"Then I would have been doing us a favor, that things a monster!"  
  
"But you deal with monsters from the Shadow Realm all the time."  
  
"I can deal with the Shadow Realm, but I'm not quiet sure what that thing even is!" Bakura growled as he pointed to the pouting black puff ball sitting on the couch. "Why don't you go put it back where you found it."  
  
"I can't just leave it outside by itself."  
  
"You might be able to, but I can if you won't."   
  
Ryou picked the 'mutated Kuribo' as Bakura called it, and held it out to Bakura. "Then here, but if you're going to take it back where it came from... then we're going to have to hold it. Oh, and by the way, I found him in the park. That's a long way away from here."  
  
"Grr..."Bakura growled knowing that his hikari had won this argument. "Fine! You can keep him for tonight, but if it comes near me..."  
  
"What's the matter yami?" Ryou teased as he hugged the puppy, "are you afraid of a little dog?"  
  
{Don't hug me! I'm not a plushie.}  
  
Bakura growled under his breath. "I'm not afraid! I just don't like it, that's all."  
  
Ryou put Yugi back down on the couch and started to walk off towards the kitchen.  
  
"Hey! Where are you going?"  
  
"To the kitchen," Ryou said holding his stomach, "I haven't eaten all day."  
  
Yugi perked up and peered over the couch at Ryou. The couch was very large and he could barely get his nose over the back of it.  
  
{I've got you beat. I haven't eaten in almost two days. Right now, I'd almost being willing to eat that stuff Tea was going to give me. Now that's hungry.}  
  
"I'm coming to, I haven't eaten all day either." Bakura complained.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because you hid all the cooking equipment."  
  
Ryou bite back a laugh. "I had too, we can't afford to buy a new house if you burn this one down."  
  
With that they disappeared into the kitchen and left Yugi still peering over the back of the couch. "Hey! Could you bring me something too?" Yugi barked but received no reply. The small pup slid back down the couch and bounced on the soft cushion. He sat there for a minute pondering what to do next. He unconsciously scratched behind his ear as he held his bored expression.  
  
{Great, my first night as a dog, I sent unconscious in Tea's room, and now on the second night, I get to sent time with Bakura. I don't think things could get any worse.}  
  
As soon as the words came from Yugi's mouth, he felt a low rumble emit from his stomach.  
  
{Why do I always say that, when I know it only gets worse anyways? Well, I'm tired of it, I'm going to the kitchen to get something.}  
  
With his new found determination, Yugi marched over to the end of the couch. He was about to leap off the side when he realized something.  
  
{Since when has this couch been so high off the ground? If I jump, I'm likely to break something. The couch at home isn't this high off the ground.}  
  
Yugi growled in frustration and laid down at the end of the couch. Yugi's eyes slid shut as he lay there.   
  
{I just what to go home. I just wait to go to my house, get in my bed, and go to sleep. Plus, I miss all my friends, and I...}  
  
Yugi's thoughts were interrupted as Bakura reentered the room and sat down on the other end of the couch. Yugi licked his lips and sniffed the air as he watched Bakura take a bite of his sandwich he had brought with him from the kitchen.  
  
{That looks good.} Yugi thought as he scooted forward a bit. This action didn't go unnoticed by a certain tomb robber who was keeping an eye on the puppy to began with.  
  
"Don't you even think about it, mutt." Bakura warned.  
  
{mutt?!}  
  
"Like I would want any of your bite off sandwich, beside, I bet Ryou had to make it for you anyways." Yugi barked.  
  
Bakura gritted his teeth at the dog and then realized he had forgotten his drink in the kitchen. He sat his sandwich on his end of the couch, got up, and left.   
  
Yugi eyed the sandwich that sat there unattended. He crouched down on his belly and scooted his way over to the sandwich, being caution to not make a sound. When it was finally in front of him he hesitated.  
  
{This is wrong. I shouldn't take Bakura's sandwich. But then again... he did call me a mutt, and goods grabbing are what us mutts are good for.}  
  
Yugi pounced forward and grabbed the sandwich between his teeth and ran back over to his side of the couch. He approached the end of the couch once more knowing that if he didn't get off the couch now, when Bakura got back, he would be dead anyways.  
  
{It's the floor or Bakura..., I'll take the floor.}  
  
Yugi slowly creep down the side of the couch hoping to not make the impact quiet as hard, but he didn't have such luck. Half way down the side of the couch he lost his grip and rolled the rest of the way down. He hit with a hard thump as the sandwich flow out of his mouth and laid on a near by shoe.  
  
Yugi looked up and saw a very anger Bakura glaring daggers down at him. Bakura lend over and picked up the sandwich and tossed it out of the way.   
  
{Uh oh...}  
  
"Come here you mutt." Bakura growled and he reached over to grab Yugi by the neck, but Yugi dodged it and rolled under the coffee table.  
  
"I'm sorry, but it's not like you can't go make you another one." Yugi growled.   
  
"Stop barking at me."  
  
"Well stop yelling at me."  
  
Bakura got down on his knees and reached under the coffee table and grabbed the loss skin on the back of Yugi's neck and drug him out from under the table and into the air. Yugi whimpered as his whole body was paralyzed.   
  
{Ow, Bakura... that really, hurts.}  
  
"Bakura what are you doing?!"  
  
"Ryou, your dumb dog ate my sandwich!" Bakura shook the pup when he referred to him.  
  
{Didn't not! I only stole it. I intended to eat it later.}  
  
When he shook the puppy, the bandana around his neck shifted to the side and revealed the dog tag at hide under neath it. The flicker of gold immediately caught Bakura's attention and he began to examine it.  
  
"Bakura, it's not like you can't make another, besides the little guy's probably hungry. I should have already gotten him something. So I guess it's my fault..." Bakura didn't pay any attention as his hikari continued to ramble on.  
  
Bakura felt of the smooth metal under his fingers making sure not to miss a single detail. He noted it's triangular shape and it's gold texture, but the thing that caught his eye the must was the Eye of Horus that sat in the middle of the golden dog tag. 'This can't be a Millennium Item," Bakura thought, "but it has the same properties of one, and there's not an eighth Millennium Item or I would know about it.' Bakura turned the dog tag over and ran his finger across the writing feeling the familiarity of the curves and dips. 'This writing is Egyptian. I can read it.' Bakura looked shocked as he read the one word wrote on the back, but his shock was soon replaced with a wide smirk that almost cover his entire face.  
  
"Bakura??" Ryou asked for the third time. "Are you listening to me?"  
  
"What?" Bakura asked as he covered the dog tag back up under the bandana  
  
Ryou sighed and sat down a bundle of blankets on the couch. "Well, I'm going to bed, just put Spot right here when you're done playing with him."  
  
"Spot?" Bakura cocked an eye brow, "What kinda name is that?"  
  
"Don't ask. It's a long story and I'm tired." Ryou rubbed the back of his head and waved good night before disappearing into his room.  
  
"Good night hikari." Bakura waved as he turned his attention back to the pup.  
  
"Well, well," Bakura teased as he plopped the puppy down onto the mound of blankets. "Don't you like your New name, spot."  
  
{huh? New name?}  
  
"Well, I guess I won't keep you up, you probably want to get your rest,"Bakura said. As he was half way to his room he turned around to bid the puppy good night.  
  
"Good night... Little Yugi."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Yay! A nice cliffhanger for everyone to enjoy! Well, I hope you liked it. Stay tune for the next episode of "Test of Friendship" R&R 


	7. Tomb Robber's Teasing

Hey everybody, I'm back! Sorry it took so long but the next few updates will come sooner and there is a reason for that. Me and my eagerness are looking forward to writing one of the chapter's in this fic, but I can't get to that chapter until I write the other chapters in front of it. So, it's probably safe to say that updates will be a little bit sooner than they have been being... but that's a good thing, right? Besides, school is starting to closed down for the summer and know I have nothing better to do... not that I didn't have nothing better to do in the first place. But anyways, I think that you've heard me babble on long enough, so let's get started.  
  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
**Review Responses:**  
  
**ENTE:** Thanks! I'm glad you like it. Hmmm, Bakura keeping his mouth shout about it does seem more like him, doesn't it? Well, I guess you'll just have to read and find out.  
  
**CYBUNNY:** Don't we all hate cliffhangers! I'm sorry but that was pretty bad, so here you go. Thanks for the review.  
  
**ROGUEANDKURT:** I'm glad you liked it. And here's another chapter and thanks for the review.  
  
**UNA1:** lol, thanks for the info on Honda's dog. I'm seriously thinking about including that in the fic. I think it will be cute. Yugi: No it won't! Nightlight5: Sure it will! Trust me Yugi, you'll have fun! Thanks for the review Una1!  
  
**BLACK BLADE1:** Yugi: It's not fair! Why doesn't Bakura get to figure it out first! I guess I will have to keep one eye open at all times, but Bakura better do the same. I can bite now you know. Nightlight5: lol, thanks for the review!  
  
**KATSURA-CHAN:** Yugi: Don't cry! Bakura will tell them, won't you Bakura? Bakura:..... Yugi: O.o Bakura?! Nightlight5: I don't think he's talking Yugi-chan. Thanks for the review.  
  
**LILBLUE-HEDGGIE:** Aww, thank you, but your right, Bakura is more likely not to say anything. Yugi: Oh he better, or he'll be sorry.   
  
**JILL:** Yes, I have heard from Mittens no Hikari, she's not dead. She'll be back with us in a little while. Her school doesn't get out until this Friday! Well, thanks for the review!  
  
**YOKAI THE TIGER DEMOND:** LOL, I totally agree! Thanks for the review.  
  
**PYRODRAGON2006:** Oh, Hikari means light. Thanks for the review!  
  
**YAMI'S SENNEN QUEEN:** I'm glad you are looking forward to it, but I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy!  
  
**ERINAMATION-LIMITED2-NOTHING:** Oh thank goodness, your other half scares me. Well, thanks for the review and here's an update.  
  
**SORCERESS VANESSA:** I'm thinking that that's... not a good thing. But I guess we'll just have to find out. Thanks for the review!  
  
**UNKNOWNDARKMYSTERY:** Yes He did! But wait, that still might not be a good thing, right? Anyways, thanks for th reivew!  
  
**BAYLEEF:** Gelert? I've never heard of one of those. But I'm glad you like the chappy and I hope you like this one as well. Thanks for the review!  
  
"Blah"= talking  
  
'Blah'= thinking  
  
=============== = scene change   
  
{Blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts  
  
Test of Friendship  
  
Chapter 7: Tomb Robber's Teasing  
  
"Good night... Little Yugi" Bakura said in almost a taunting matter before venturing back to his room and closing the door.  
  
{Yeah, whatever Bakura.} Yugi thought has he closed his eyes in hopes that he might find sleep waiting for him. He had only had his eyes closed for two seconds when the realization hit him.  
  
{Yugi! He called me my name!}  
  
Yugi bonded up from the blanket covered couch and dove off the edge before even think about it. He landed with a thud and he stumbled over and on to his head, but besides that, no harm was done.   
  
{So that's why they made up the saying 'look before you leap'.}  
  
He regained his footing and ran over to Bakura's room door. Yugi barked and growled at the closed door. "Bakura! Get back out here. I know you know!" Yugi lowered himself to the bottom of the door and stuck his nose in the small crack. With his mouth shut, him emitted a low growl and clawed at the carpet. "I mean it Bakura, this is important."  
  
Sudden the door opened and Yugi sat up to face a grinning tomb robber. "What's the matter Yugi, you sound troubled?"  
  
"Stop playing with me Bakura, this is not the time."  
  
"What's that Yugi?" Bakura said cupping his hand over his ear as if he couldn't hear, "I didn't quite catch that."  
  
{Great, out of all the people that I'm suppose to get to recognize me, Bakura isn't one of them, and he found out first!}  
  
Yugi stood up on all fours and barked and growled or anything else he could possible think of. Bakura laughed as he sat down in front of his door. "If only the pharaoh knew," Bakura teased as he patted the top of Yugi's head. "But he's to stupid."  
  
Yugi growled and bite the side of Bakura's hand. {You're the one that's stupid for thinking you could put your hand near a dog's mouth and get away unmarked.}  
  
"Ow! Why you like..." Bakura drew back to hit the dog but stopped why he heard a familiar voice cascade from the room on the other side of the hall. "Bakura! What the heck are you doing out there?!"   
  
"I'm only telling the dog goodnight, so don't get all snippy at me!" Bakura yelled back. Ryou didn't response.  
  
Bakura, satisfied by the silence, continue his conversation with the pint sized puppy. "So Yugi, what's it like to be a dog? I mean, besides the height, which really hasn't changed that much, what's different?"  
  
Yugi could tell that Bakura was loving every minute of this, and the likely hood of the tomb robber actually helping him was slim to none. "Bakura, please stop, this is serious. If you don't help me I could die."  
  
{That's a scarey thought. To actually think that my very life could be in the hands of a five thousand year old tomb robber. But maybe Bakura will come through this time, maybe?}  
  
Yugi looked at the up at the evil grin Bakura was currently sporting and cringed. "I really hope you don't expect me to tell the ex-pharaoh that you're a dog."  
  
{I'm dead...}  
  
"Wha?! Why not?"  
  
"Haha, I still can't understand you Yugi, but I can only image that you're wanting to know why."Bakura smirked an all knowing smile that clearly was to let Yugi know that he was the one that had the upper hand in the current game. "You see Yugi, it would be all too easy to just to tell the baka Pharaoh, too easy for you that is. But, since I hold the cards in this game, I would rather see the Pharaoh suffer while trying to figure out that his hikari is nothing more than a tea cup poodle."  
  
"I am not a tea cup poodle." Yugi growled." If you must know, I'm a Lab puppy."  
  
{At least I think that's what I am. But I'm must defiantly not a tea cup poodle!}  
  
"Well, I must thank you Yugi." Bakura laughed. "Thanks to you, tomorrow is going to be quite entertaining."   
  
"What are you talking about?" Yugi barked cocking his head to the side.  
  
"Tomorrow, Ryou says he's going over to your house to check on the 'guys', and personal, I wouldn't miss it for the world. So I would suggest you get so sleep." Bakura laughed as he slide back inside his room and shut the door in Yugi's face.  
  
{Why must all bad fortunes happen to me?} Yugi pondered as he toddled back over to the couch and dug his claws into the side and pulled himself up. He plopped down onto the fluffy cochin and curled up into a tight ball. He brought his tail around in front of his face so that his eyes and nose were covered. After laying still for a few minutes, Yugi slowly began to drift off to sleep.  
  
===============  
  
The window in Ryou's living room began to glow a light blue as the Shadowy figure stood by the closed window and peered in at the sleeping puppy.  
  
"There's no more of day one left Yugi, and so far you have managed to convince one person, that doesn't even count, of who you are."  
  
The Shadowy figure began to descend back into the shadows. "You only have six more days left. Use them wisely."  
  
===============  
  
The morning sun's rays seeped into the nearby window and fell lightly upon Yugi's silky black fur. He welcomed the warmth. He slowly opened his eyes expecting to see the livingroom scenery, but was meet by a large black dot that seemed to be getting closer and closer. Yugi's eyes widened as he bolted up and barked at the on coming danger.   
  
The black dot shot up quickly and Yugi could finally see what or who it was. "Bakura?! You're the black dot?" Bakura was a pair black leather pants and a white t-shirt.  
  
{That's just great, Bakura's butt is not exactly what I want to see first thing in the morning.}  
  
"Hey, wait a minute! You almost sat on me!" Yugi barked "Do you have any idea of how much damage you could have done to me if you'd have sat on me... does road kill ring a bell."  
  
"Your in my seat poodle." Bakura growled and pushed Yugi over to the middle of the couch. In return Yugi growled and curled back up. Just out the corner of his eye, he noticed that Bakura's hand was warped up.  
  
{Ha, looks like that bite caused more damage than I thought.}  
  
"Well, I see that someone got up on the wrong side of the couch this morning," Bakura teased and then became serious. "Seriously, stay off my side of the couch."  
  
{Forgive me, the next time I sleep there I'll remember to leave you a parting gift.}  
  
The two sat in silence for a moment, until they heard a door shut and out came Ryou. He was dressed in his usually blue jeans and white and blue stripped t-shirt and was holding a leather leash in one hand.   
  
"Well, we're going Bakura," Ryou announced as he clipped the leather leash on Yugi's hidden collar. "We'll be back late."  
  
"Now wait a minute." Bakura stood up and startled Ryou. "I'm coming too."  
  
"What? But you never..."  
  
"Well, I want to come this time."  
  
"You only want to come so you can argue with Yami."  
  
"So," Bakura growled, "Why do you care why I want to come, besides, I'm going anyways."  
  
Ryou nodded his head and began to head for the door. "Come on Spot."  
  
"Oh Ryou, there's also something else I want to do on the way to Yugi's house." Bakura said as he eyed the small pup on the leather leash.  
  
Yugi gulped. {I don't like that look. He better not be thinking what I thinking he's thinking, because if he is, there's no way in the world I'm going to let him do that.}  
  
===============  
  
Ryou and Bakura neared the Game shop as a smug looking Bakura drug the small black puppy behind him. Yugi dug his nails into the concrete and pulled in the opposite direction of the leash.   
  
{How could Ryou let Bakura hold the leash? I bet he's loving this.}  
  
"Come on poodle!" Bakura yelled back.  
  
"Stop calling me poodle, tomb robber!" Yugi barked.  
  
"Ummm, Bakura," Ryou started, "maybe you should let me have him now. I don't think he likes you."  
  
"Non-sense, he loves me, isn't that right poodle," Bakura yanked on the leash and forced Yugi forward causing him to splattered the ground. "Besides, we're here anyway."  
  
"Oh yeah, we are." Ryou said as he entered the Game Shop. Bakura waited outside for a moment after Ryou went in to make sure that he was out of ear shot. Then he yanked on the chain again. "Come on Yugi, this is where the fun starts."  
================================================================  
A/N: Well, that's all for this chapter, sorry it's so short but I needed to cut it off so that I can fit all the good stuff in the next chapter. Also the next chapter is where I'm going to do something special with all the names you guys gave me, so, if you have any last name entries you would like to slip in at the last moment, I would do so now, or forever hold your peace! Thanks for reading and drop me a review and tell me what you liked or what I need to work on. Until then, remember, that with a keen eye for detail, one truth will prevail!


	8. The 3rd name?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Okay everyone I'm back from my long... ummm, vacation? Not much of a vacation, my computer has been broken and that's why I haven't updated in such a LONG time. Sorry! Thanks to all who reviewed and I want to remind you that here is where I do something special with all the names that you guys gave me. So I hope you enjoy!

"Blah"= Talking

'Blah'= Thinking

{Blah}= Yugi's doggie thoughts

============= = Scene Change

TEST OF FRIENDSHIP

Chapter 8: A 3rd name??

Ryou entered the game shop to find it's inhabitants along with the atmosphere of the place sad and gloomy. "So, I take it you all had no luck?"

Joey ran a hand through his messing blonde hair, "Nah, it's like he's just vanished."

"Don't worry, we'll find him Joey," Serenity assured her brother. He only smiled in return.

"I'm sure Yugi is fine, he'll turn up sooner or later." Ryou tried to cheer them up with this statement, and it might would have worked if a certain tomb robber hadn't just decided to bust through the door at that time with a small 'Spot' in tow.

Everyone in the room gave out an annoyed sigh, with the exception of Tea, as they saw Ryou's Yami come in. "Just had to bring him didn't you Ryou?" Yami asked in a bored tone.

Ryou laughed nervously and scratched the back of his hand, "Well... he really wanted to come for some reason."

Yami cocked an eyebrow suspiciously at Bakura and was about to say something when Tea went running by him and up to Bakura.

"Where did you find him?"Tea asked excitedly

Bakura gave her a 'what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about' look, but Tea just ignored it and reached down and picked up the black puppy and took the leash off.

"You guys found my dog!"Tea pipped up as she hugged the puppy.

{Erk! To... much... love!}

"This is... your dog Tea?" Ryou ask in surprise.

"Yeah! Somebody was suppose to be watching him, but forgot about him and he got lost." Tea statement as she glared over at Joey.

"What?!" Joey yelled defensively, "I was duh one dat told him ta stay outside and wait for me."

"Right Joey, like the dog can really understand you." Tristan said sarcastically.

{You'd be surprised... You'd also be surprised at what Bakura mumbles about in is sleep. Not that I ever want to think about that again, but maybe it will come in handy when I can speak again.}

"Anyways, thanks Ryou, I owe you one,"

"Oh, it was nothing really, "Ryou blushed slightly and waved it off. "Oh, by the way, what's his name?"

Tea froze for a second, "His... name?"

"Yes, you have given him one haven't you?"

"Ummm, well," Tea stutter as she placed 'Yugi' on the ground and he toddled over to the couch and sat on the floor between Yami and Serenity's feet. "To tell you the truth, I only got the dog the other night, and so far I haven't been able to come up with one, my mom doesn't even know about him yet."

"Then we should give him one quick before he get an identity crisis," Serenity joked as she scooped the black pup up and sat him in her lap.

{I think it's a little later for that.}

"Yea! Dat's a great idea sis," Joey announced, "Joey Wheeler's a mastered at namin' animals."

"Oh really? That must be why you named that old black cat of your's 'lucky' and the next day it got ran over by a car." Tristan teased.

"Hey man! Don't joke about dat kinda stuff!" the blonde scolded. "I loved dah cat like a member of my family."

"You only had it for one day!"

"A'right Tristan, your askin' for it.

"Guys, let's not fight. Let's just decide on a name." Tea instructed. "Anyone have a suggestion?"

"I got one," Yami offered, "It's: Let's-go-look-for-Yugi."

"Hmmm, rather odd name. It doesn't quiet round off the tongue." Ryou mused totally oblivious to the sarcasm.

"Come on Yami, we just came from looking for Yug. Right now what we need ta do is thinking about everything dat's happened and try to come up with a different game plan, and thinkin' up a dog name for this little pooch if just the ticket to get the ole brain juice a flown."

"Yea, Joey's right." Tristan agreed. "Wait a minute... did I just say that Joey was right...?"

"Guess there really is a first time for everything." Bakura commented dryly which didn't go unnoticed by a certain blonde.

"You got sometin' ta say ta me?!" Joey yelled and rose to his feet as if to dare Bakura to cross into his invisible domain.

Yugi sighed {At this rate it's going to take me the rest of my six days left just to get there attention, more less get them to say my name to me.}

Serenity held 'Yugi' up and gave him a once over before suggesting a name. "Ummm, how about, Boo?"

"Why that's a wonderful name Serenity! You should become a profession namer." Tristan praised and grinned sweetly at Serenity.

"Thanks Tristan."

Joey's eye began to twitch at Tristan's remark and before he could bat another eye, Tristan had a large lump on top of his head while a still Poed Joey sat there with his teeth and fist clenched. "There's no such t'ing as a profession namer! And FYI, if ya don't stop lookin' at my sister like dat, your goin' need a new name ta go with duh new face I'm gonna give ya!"

By now Tea had crossed the room and was sitting by Serenity. She gently patted 'Spot' on the head and started scratching behind his ear.

{It's the ear scratching thing again...}

Yugi's head started to sway back and forth, rhythmically to the movement of her hand.

{Remind me again... What's wrong with being a dog?}

Tea finally withdrew her hand and made a suggestion of her own. "What about Tenshi? He seems sweet enough."

{No, no, no... what happened to the scratching? I was just getting into it.}

Bakura stifled a laugh at Tea's suggestion. She immediately sent him a glare. "What's wrong with naming him Tenshi?"

"Nothing... that is if a male dog doesn't mind having a girly name, and being beat up by the other neighborhood dogs."

"I hate ta admit it Tea, but Bakura's right," Joey stood up and declared, "A dog's gotta have a name that strikes fear into the eyes of the other dogs, like Killer!"

Everybody sweatdropped at Joey's half brained suggestion.

{Killer? And it so fits me...}

Yami raised his eyebrow and looked at the black puppy. If Yami hadn't of known better he would have thought the pup's eye was twitching for a second, but when he blinked it was gone and the puppy was now looking at him. The pup's big amethyst eyes sparkled and reminded him so much of someone. He would have givin' it more thought but Joey's incessant rumble of names drown out his thoughts.

"Or how about Rosco, or Buddy?"

"Yeah, or Hikaru or Yujo?" Tristan pipped in, "They use to be my old fighting partners until one day, they got an invitation to a fight, and never came back..."

It was quiet for minute as everybody stared at Tristan waiting for him to finish his story, but apparently he was done.

{Alright, it's official, Joey can't come up with a decent name to save his life and Tristan is trying to name me after his fallin' comrades.}

"Anyways," Joey continued, "What about Gameboy, or Blacky."

"Oh that's orignal." Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Well fine, we can go with my last suggest... Booger."

After that a chorus of ewes were heard, even from the guys.

"That's gross Joey." Serenity voiced.

"Yeah, no dog in there right mind want's to be named after something that came out of there nose." Tea complained.

Yugi sighed and shook his head at there attempts to give him his 3rd name. He looked around the room while the group argued on what should be the finally name. His eyes finally fell on Yami. He could tell that Yami wasn't here with them, sure he was here physically, but not mentally. He stood to his paws in Serenity's lap and trotted over to Yami. Serenity hadn't noticed him leave.

Yugi peered up at Yami and pawed at his leg trying to get his attention.

{Hey? You there?}

Yugi once again pawed at Yami's leg and this time he was able to get his attention.

Yami looked down at the jet black puppy and blinked at him as if to ask what he wanted. However, the pup never answered. But... he just couldn't shake the fact that he knew this pup from somewhere. But that was impossible, right?

{Come on Yami, cheer up. You guys'll find... 'me', soon. I hope.}

Yami eyes widen for a second as he thought he heard a small murmur through his and Yugi's link. "Yugi...?"

Yugi eyes widened farther as he realized Yami had just said his name.

{Could it be? Does Yami realize it's me??}

Yami concentrated hard on trying to find there now small link, but unfortunately it had disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Yami's face fell in disappointment. Maybe that wasn't even Yugi at all, maybe it was just his tired mind playing tricks on him.

"No, it couldn't be." Yami whispered to himself.

Yugi once happy face and wagging tail soon dropped as he realized that Yami had been talking to himself and hadn't called him Yugi at all.

{No! Yami never talks to himself, and the one time he decides to talk to himself is NOW! This isn't fair.} Yugi growled and plopped himself down beside Yami. {Well, the score is Yamis:2, Yugi/Spot: zero}

Yami snapped out of his thoughts long enough to see the distraught looking puppy plopped beside him. He smiled sadly at the pup thinking they might be in a similar situation. He reached down and scooped the puppy up and sat it in his lap and for some odd reason... he began to talk to it.

"So, what's your story pup? Are you lose too?"

{No. Well, maybe.}

"My friend is lost too." Yami continued while rubbing the top of the pup's head. "Say, you haven't happened to have seen him have you? He looks just like me, but only shorter."

Yugi lifted his head up in Yami's direction but never meet his eyes, he didn't think he could. He had no idea how much Yami would be hurt if something happened to him. He turned his head towards the black screened TV and glazed at his reflection and then laid his head back down. {Sorry but, I haven't seen him.}

"Well, you couldn't have seen him right, after all, you showed up the day Yugi went missing." Yami seemed to stop after saying that. From the look on his face you could tell he was thinking. Plus, in mid-pet Yami had dropped his hand on 'Yugi's' head.

{Ow, Yami. Get your hand off my head, your pushing my forehead over my eyes and I can't see a thing.}

"So it's settled than!"

Yami and Yugi both looked up when they heard Tea's voice.

"We'll name him Boo."

{Apparently I was paying attention to the wrong conversation and now I'm stuck with the name Boo. Oh well, it's gotta be better than Spot, right?}

"Well, com' on Tristan, Serenity, we gotta go help mom move into her new apartment." Joey said as he, Tristan, and Serenity stood up to walk to the door.

"You're leaving already?" Yami asked.

"Yeah, we've got to go as well," Ryou announced from behind Joey, "father will be home today and he'll have a cow if he comes home to a messy house."

"But I thought we were going to going looking again today?" Yami asked almost sadly.

"Hey, don't worry man," Joey reassured him, "Me, Tristan, and Serenity'll keep an eye out for him and will be back tomorrow ta help look."

"Yeah," Tristan added, "and I'll even bring my dog, Princess by. Who knows, maybe Boo and Princess'll get together."

{WHAT?! I'm not going out with a dog! I knew someday I would probably have puppy love, but this kinda puppy love takes on a whole new meaning.}

"Yes Pharaoh, you worry to much about that baka hikari of yours." Bakura smirked, "besides, where ever he is at, he's probably having a Dog-gone good time."

Bakura chuckled lightly at his joke before leaving out of the shop.

Yami narrowed his eyes at the place where Bakura was last standing. "He knows something."

"I'll check it out." Ryou said before exiting the door with Joey, Tristan, and Serenity right behind him.

Now it was only Yami, Tea, and the black fur ball now known as Boo.

"Well, I hate to say this Yami, but I have to go too, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

Yami raised any eyebrow at Tea and signaled for her to go on.

"Well..." She started slowly but then sped up, "I was wondering if you could keep little Boo for the night? He shouldn't be much trouble. I would keep him, but my mom doesn't know about him and I have to work the night shift tonight and I'll be getting home late. And besides, he really seems to be taken with you." Tea pointed to Yami's lap where 'Boo' was laying at.

"Besides, with Yugi gone and all, you don't need to be here alone. We worry about you Yami."

Yami let a small laugh escape his throat before speaking, "You don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Well, alright," Tea said not to convinced of his answer, but she had no time to argue, she was running late to work as is. "I'll be back to pick up Boo tomorrow and help look for Yugi. Call me if anything happens, you have my number."

Yami only nodded.

"Well, bye," Tea said before exiting the shop and shutting the door behind her.

Yami sighed and then looked down at the pup that was now sitting up and looking at him.

"Well 'Boo', it's just me and you."

=============================================================================================================

A/N: Well, That's chapter 8. I know you are probably thinking that it's not as good as the other chapters, but I promise that the next chapter will be better. The next chapter will be all about Yami and 'Boo's sleep over and Yugi gets to meet Tristan's dog Princess for the first time. What will Yugi think about Princess or better yet, what will Princess think about Yugi?

Special Thanks:

Una: For giving me all the names that Joey used and for giving me the kick in the butt to write the next chapter. Thanks

Sorceress Vanessa: For the name that Serenity used and ultimately the winning name. You'll also get to see one of the reasons I chose this name in the next chapter.

ACME-Rain and Yokai: For giving me the names that Tristan used.

Yami Rissa: For giving me the name that Tea used.

PS: I won't say how, but there will be another name change coming up again very soon, so if you would like to make more suggestions for names they are welcomed and wanted.

And always, thanks to all the wonderful reviews! And I'll end on this note, Go watch the Yu-Gi-Oh movie! It rocks!!


	9. An at Home Sleepover

A/N: Weeeee! Now back to this story! Now that my other one is done my full attention can be placed on this one. Oh and BTW, I am so sorry for not updating sooner. I just started Creative Writing this year at school and she gives us at least three or four different stories to write every week and my brain and ideas have been burnt out. Anyways, let's begin with chapter nine now... we are on chapter nine right? looks around the messy papers on her desk and starts throwing them everywhere uhhh, I'll check later and find out.

P.S. I know that I already said that I was sorry for the wait, but now I'm going to tell you the reason why it was later. I would have had this in weeks ago, but for some reason wouldn't take the format that I have been using for this story, and for that reason some of the symbols have been changed. For example, Yugi and Yami's mind link is now a # and the Yugi's doggie thoughts are now $$. Please take notice of these changes and I hope that this doesn't mess anyone up. Again I'm sorry for the wait and Thank you to Sorceress Vanessa for the help on the format chooses.

'Blah' Thinking

"Blah" Talking

#Blah# Yugi to Yami

##Blah## Yami to Yugi

$$Blah$$ Yugi's doggie thoughts

**TEST OF FRIENDSHIP**

**Chapter 9: An at home Sleep Over**

Shortly after Yugi's friends had all left Yami had decided to go look for Yugi on his own. The day was slowly starting to fade from a sun shinny day to a colorful sun set evening. All around Domino, people began to file out from the stores that lined the sidewalks and make their way home. And for those whose houses were to far away to walk to, they lined up by the bus stop waiting for its arrival.

When the bus finally arrived at 7:30pm the folding door opened up to let people on and off. Among those who exited was Yami Muto and his rather small charge, Yugi, or also known as 'Boo' to everyone but Bakura.

Yami pressed pass the people as he stepped out and onto the sidewalk. 'Boo' unfortunately had a little bit harder time. Being as small as he was it was hard for people in a hurry to watch out for a small black dot down by their feet. He constantly had to squeeze by several pairs of legs while being careful not to be stepped on in the process. One time he came really close to becoming a black dot underneath someone's foot and would have if not for Yami picking him up at the last second.

"You have to be more careful." Yami scolded lightly and he sat 'Boo' back on the ground

$$Right. Easy for you to say, people can see you. Nobody tries to step on you. But me... I'm just like a cockroach to them. By-the-way, why were you looking for me at the Salon? I don't go there.$$

Yami continued to walk down the sidewalk not hearing the thoughts of the small shadow behind him. The sun setting in front of them cast a long shadow behind Yami that stretched over 'Boo' making it where only his two purple gem like eyes could be seen shinny through the darkness.

$$I don't go there.$$ Yugi pouted $$Alright! So I went there once, but that doesn't mean I'd run away from home to go there.$$

Again Yami said nothing so Yugi decided it was useless talking or thinking to Yami if he wasn't going to get an answer. They walked for a time in silence, with Yugi looking at the ground and Yami looking straight forward with his hands shoved in his pockets. When Yugi did look up he noticed that where ever they were it wasn't the familiar Game Shop surroundings. He began to look around for familiar surroundings or even a clue as to where they might be going.

$$I can't tell where we're at. Where is Yami...$$

Yugi's train of thought trailed off as he ran head first into a pole. He scooted backwards and shook his head. When he looked up to see the offending pole all he found was Yami. It had obviously not been a pole at all, but the back of Yami's leg.

Yami turned slightly and looked back at the pup. He was shaking his head from the impact and when he stopped his tongue was slightly hanging out between his front teeth and his head was cocked to the side in a clear statement of confusion. The poor thing didn't know what hit him. "You're just as clumsy as Yugi, you know that?" At this the puppy barked and wagged its tail. The ex-pharaoh chuckled lightly at this and picked up the small dog.

Yugi stifled a yawn as Yami picked him up, but the lines of exhaustion on his face were evident. "Alright I know you're tired," Yami confessed, "I have to stop by one more place and then we'll go home."

$$And where is that?$$

"Ah, here we are," Yami pointed, "Domino City Museum. I need to speak with an old friend of mine. I just hope she's still here this last."

$$Knowing Isis, she probably lives here.$$

* * *

The pair made there way down the halls of the dimly lit museum in search of 'Yami's old friend'. While Yami was looking around for her, Yugi took the time to look and, oddly enough, sniff out all the new items the museum had received. It was obvious by the look on his face that all the items seemed to be the same in scent, for he would take a quick sniff of one item and quickly move onto the next.

sniff $$Dirt$$

sniff $$Dirt$$

sniff $$Hey this smells...$$ sniff sniff $$...different.$$

Yugi looked up at the item of interest. It was a tall casket like structure that was plated in gold, written in hieroglyphics, and held a rotting corps inside of it.

$$Rotting Corps!$$

The black pup jerked back and tucked his tail between his legs before running off to catch up with Yami.

At the current moment the aforementioned Pharaoh was looking through the hallways for his said friend while vaguely paying attention to the next exhibits. The halls were quiet and a bit creepy because of it. He had long forgotten about his black fluff ball of a charge until the said fluff ball skid to a stopped beside his leg.

"Whoa, what's the rush?"

$$There are dead people back there, and the smell is enough to give me a nose bleed.$$

Yami look up and around one last time before turning towards the path they had entered by. "Well, I guess she's not here boy. Come on, let's go."

Yami started to walk back to the front while Yugi played in his shadow, but was stopped by a feminine voice.

"Pharaoh?"

Yami stopped and turned back around to see Isis standing at the opening of a hall that led to the right.

"I thought I heard a voice coming from out here, but I had not expected it to be you."

"It truly must be a feat to take the protector of the Millennium Necklace by surprise."

Isis laugh with a closed mouth, "Yes, but since I did not foresee your coming, then you must be here for some other reason then your Ancient Past, I am correct?"

"As always," Yami nodded.

"So what can I do for you?" Isis asked

Yami was about to answer when he was interrupted by a third party entering the room.

"Sister, who was that outside?" a blonde headed Egyptian boy poked his head out and looked at Isis before turning to look at Yami. "Oh, hello Pharaoh."

"Hello Malik."

Both Isis and Yami were staring at Malik in silence as Malik looked back and forth between them as if waiting for something. Malik looked perplexed for a minute before realizing what they were waiting for.

"Oh, sorry! Please continue what you were doing. I'm just going to go back to the waiting room." Malik said waving a pointed finger back down the hallway.

Once Malik had left Isis looked back at Yami, "Forgive him for the interruption, I know that you're not very comfortable around him because of both your pasts."

Yami smiled, "He could not help what happened in the past, so I do not hold it against him."

"Thank you Pharaoh," Isis bowed silently before returning to the previous conversation. "So what is it you need again?"

Yami's slight smile disappeared when he was reminded of why he was here, but continued on none the less. "I've come to ask if you had seen Yugi either with your own eyes or the Millennium Necklace."

"Yugi's missing?" Isis asked. She looked down at her hands for a moment to think if she had since the little hikari lately when she realized the small black puppy sitting at Yami's feet. She watched as the puppy stifled a yawn and then gently scratched behind its ear. Isis was about to ask Yami if the dog was his, but stopped when the Millennium Item gave a quick flash and then faded as quickly as it had come. Isis stared wide eyed at the small ball of fur. 'How could this be...?' She thought. She must have been staring for a while because the next thing she knew she heard Yami asking if she was okay.

Isis jerked her head back up in Yami's direction. "Are you alright Isis? Did you have a vision?"

Isis could hear the anxiousness in Yami voice. "No, it wasn't a vision."

"But I thought I saw your Millennium Item flash." Yami stated.

"I-it must have been the light reflecting off of it." Isis remarked quickly.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry Pharaoh, but I have not seen Yugi lately."

"Not even a vision?"

Isis stared at the hopeful look on Yami's face before glancing down at the black puppy once more. She bite her lip at the thought of what she was about to do. She looked back up at Yami with an emotionless face. "No, I'm truly sorry, but my Millennium Necklace has revealed nothing to me involving Yugi's disappearance."

"Oh, well, Thank Isis. Please let me know if you hear or see anything." Yami hung his head and turned to the leave the museum.

Isis hated to see Yami leave this way, but there was nothing she could do. Her hands were tied in this matter. Looking down, she noticed that the small black pup was still sitting on the ground watching Yami. She then stepped forward, scooped up the puppy, and walking quickly over to the fast leaving Pharaoh.

"Please don't look so sad my Pharaoh." Isis said once she had finally caught up with him. "Things will all turn out in the end, you'll see. But until then, you need to take good care of this little fellow."

Yami turned around as Isis pushed the small ball of fluff into Yami's arms. "Something tells me that there's something very special about him."

Yami looked down at 'Boo' and 'Boo' looked back at him before they both looked at Isis. She simply smiled in return and bind them farewell. Yami cocked an eyebrow at Isis as she walked off back down the hallway and was soon out of sight. After a minute of standing there he shrugged and then left out the door.

A little ways down the hall, Isis was making her way back to the waiting room where Malik was waiting. But for the moment her thoughts were not on her waiting brother, but on another pressing matter.

'Forgive me for lying to you my Pharaoh, but I yet to understand what fate has in store for the both of you. I'm not sure what Destiny is playing at, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.'

* * *

Yami was now outside the museum making his way back to the Kami Game Shop with 'Boo' still in his arms.

"Hmm," Yami mused aloud, "I wonder why Isis would say you are so special?"

$$I don't know... after all, I'm just your average ordinary boy stuck in a dog's body. Nothing special about that, right?$$

"Well, if Isis says you're special, then that must mean something, right?" Yami asked Boo, but as usual received no response. "So what are you? A reincarnation from my past perhaps?"

$$You're reading too much into this Yami, think of something a little more... modern, like the present.$$

"Well, I hope not. That would be bad to come back as a dog." Yami then laughed at his next statement. "Although I wouldn't mind to have seen Bakura come back as a squirrel."

'Boo' howled at this making Yami laugh again. "So you like that idea huh?"

$$Yep!$$

Yami smiled and ruffled the petite dog's head and continued on home.

* * *

Yami unlocked the door to the Game Shop and filed into it shortly followed by 'Boo'.

Yugi didn't even bother waiting for Yami to unlock the door and fully get in, because after being out and about all day, he only had one thing on his mind.

$$Couch, couch, couch, couch...$$

Yugi strolled into the living room an approached the couch. When he got to the edge he noticed that the couch looked slightly farther up then it was this morning, or maybe it was just that he was so tired that it made it look farther up. Either way, it was going to take some effort getting up there, and effort was strength that he didn't have at the moment. After all, this was the second day he had gone without food.

Yugi sighed and placed his front paws on the top cushion and made an effort to pull himself up.

$$Nope, that's not going to work. I can get the front up, it's just getting the butt to go with it.$$

By this time Yami had made his way into the living room. He had obviously been to the kitchen first, because when he got to the couch he had a microwavable tube of Ramen noodles with him. Yugi held a whimper in his throat as he set back on his haunches on the cold hard floor.

$$This so unfair, this is almost like staying with Bakura. Nooo... let's not feed the dog, the dog doesn't have to eat.$$

Yugi snorted and laid flat on the floor with his paws on either side of his head. All the while he was staring at Yami eating his noodles and watching TV. In other words, he was pouting, and he was doing it to the best of his doggie abilities.

When Yami was half way through with his noodles, he got the feeling that someone was watching him. He stopped eating at once and began to look around only to find that the culprit was 'Boo'. He at first he though it was nothing, but then at second glance he could see that 'Boo' didn't look too pleased and was giving him what looked to be a glare, but not a hard one.

"What's that look for?" Yami asked with a puzzled look.

Yugi then sat up a little bit and barked, "Feed. Me."

Unfortunately, because of their difference in languages Yami couldn't understand a word that he said. Yugi growled and stood up feeling a new burst of energy. With one leap he managed to land semi-gracefully on the cushion next to Yami.

$$I'll take this...$$ Yugi though as he crawled over Yami's lap, grabbed the cup of noodles with his teeth, pounced off the other side of the couch, and made his way towards the kitchen. $$Thanks!$$

"Hey! Come back here." Yami yelled after the retreating dog and followed him into the kitchen.

When Yugi reached the kitchen he sat the cup down on the floor and waited for Yami to get there. Sure enough, Yami was only a few seconds behind him.

"What did you do that for?" Yami asked as he scooped up his cup of noodles and sat them on the near by table.

Yugi growled in return and then started pawing at the cabinet door. $$I sure miss having thumbs.$$

Yami studied his action for a minute before a knowing expression crossed his face. "Oh I see, you must be hungry after our long day."

Yugi's face fell as he looked back up at Yami. $$Weren't you hungry when you got home?$$

Yami began to shuffle through the cabinets looking for something a small dog would like to eat, but the thing was, he'd never had a dog before. Sure he had seen them before in the park, but other than that, he only knew the things that Yugi had told him about them.

"Let's see," Yami mused aloud, "pocky?"

Yugi perked up at the mention of his favorite snack food. $$That's sounds good!$$

"Nah," Yami said placing the box back in the cabinet, causing Yugi's perked attitude to drop again.

"How about noodles?" Yami mused again

Once again Yugi perked up only to hear Yami's same 'no' and watch another one of his favorite foods get put back in the cabinet.

Unfortunately for Yugi, this went on for another five minutes. When Yami reached the last cabinet, he opened it rather quickly, not knowing what was behind it. Little did he or Yugi, who happen to be lying under that cabinet at the time, know that that particular cabinet was used to store baking ingredients. So it came as a surprise when a medium sized bag of opened flour came tumbling out and falling to the floor.

An explosion of white powder rose from the floor along with a doggish like yelp. When the powder finally cleared a white coated 'Boo' sat on the floor with the flour bag over his head. Yami bite back a laugh as he reached down and pulled the bag off. The black pup let out a sneeze and white flour puffed out around him.

"Sorry Boo." Yami half laughed

$$Its okay... with my luck so far, I should have expected it. But at least now my name fits me. Boo$$

"We'd better go get you cleaned up now, you look like a ghost." Yami sighed as he picked up 'Boo' and headed to the bathroom.

$$Okay, a bath would be...$$ Yugi's thoughts stopped dead in there tracks as a horrified look crossed his face. $$Bath?! Oh no! You are not giving me a bath! I refuse to let anyone else, especially my Yami, give me a bath. Nope... it's not going to happen.$$

* * *

"Hold still." Yami complained as a soapy wet Boo tried to wriggle away from him. "I can't get all the flour off if you won't hold still."

Boo finally stopped struggling and sat down in the swallow water. The expression he wore was less than happy and could possible be categorized as down right displeased. A blob of bubbles sat cheerfully on top of his head and bubbled down over his eyes.

$$This, is by far the most embarrassing part of my experience so far.$$

Just as Yugi thought that Yami poured a cup of warm water over the top of his head.

"There, you're all clean now." Yami declared as he looked at the once fluffy now turned wet rat dog.

$$You're turn!$$ Yugi cheerfully thought as he began to shake himself dry while ignoring the cries from Yami to stop.

When Yugi was done he looked back up at Yami and mentally snickered at the dripping wet ex-pharaoh. Now it was Yami's turn to look displeased.

"Thanks" Yami sarcastically remarked as he ran his hand over his face to remove the water droplets and went and opened the door for 'Boo', "You can go ahead down stairs now. I'll be down in a minute; I have to clean myself up now."

$$Okay$$ Yugi mentally agreed as he shook off one last time and then exited the bathroom forgetting about his red bandana that Yami had taken off before his bath.

Once Yugi was downstairs, he headed back to the kitchen. He some how managed to dodge the large powdery mess and make his way to the table. On top of the table sat Yami's have eaten cup of noodles.

$$Have I really sunk so low?$$

Despite his thoughts, Yugi hoped up onto the table, using the chair as a step latter, and began to eat his fill, which wasn't as much as he would have liked for it to have been.

Once he was done he made his way back to the living room as Yami was making his way down the stairs, but instead of going to the living room, he made a quick turn and headed to the kitchen.

Yugi sighed and lay down on the couch. $$How am I suppose to get him to know it's me? Tomorrow will be the third day and so far no one knows about me but Bakura, and a lot of good that's doing me. There has to be some way to make them see, but right now I'm so tired I don't think I could get my brain to scheme up anything.$$

"I see you found something after all." Yami commented as he chunks the empty cup of noodles in the nearby trash can."

Yugi didn't response aloud or to himself, he just simply yawned and laid his head back down on the couch.

"Looks like someone's ready for bed," Yami said just as he noticed the pup was already asleep.

Yami smiled to himself and looked around for a blanket the puppy could sleep with. He finally spotted one draped over a hanger in the laundry room. When he bought it back into the living room, he could finally see whose blanket it was. It was Yugi's. It was the blanket he always used to drape over the end of his bed; the blanket with his school's colors sown on it. Yami frowned at the blanket before placing it over the pup.

Yami was about to leave to go to his room when his Millennium Puzzle gave a quick flash and an odd picture appeared in front of his eyes. While he was staring at the black pup curled up on the couch, a picture of Yugi curled up asleep on the couch flashed before his eyes. Yami blinked a few times and when he looked back at the couch, everything was as it was a few seconds ago. Yami shook his head and started on his way back to his room.

'What was that?' Yami thought confusedly, 'Why would I have a picture such as that come to me. And what was that other flash in the room that I saw.'

Yami opened his room door and sat down on his bed. He slipped the puzzle from his neck and placed it on the night stand beside his head. 'Is the Millennium Puzzle trying to tell me something about Yugi? If so, then from the picture, it would seem that Yugi is alright!'

This last thought brought Yami some relief and joy that his aibou could still be out there, unharmed.

Yami yawned slightly before slipping under the covers of his bed and turning off the lamp.

##Goodnight Hikari## Yami sent through there link hoping that where ever Yugi was, he would be able to here it.

* * *

Yugi shifted in his sleep as a last wavering thought drifted through his head. $$Goodnight Yami$$

Now that both were fast asleep, a blue light glowed softly by the window of the living room and a shadowy figure stood there. From behind his hooded face came a soft but disturbing laugh. "The sun rises and falls on your second day Yugi, and you have yet to take a lead in our own little twisted game. Keep playing this way, and you are sure to lose. Not that I would let you win anyways."

The Shadowy figure chuckled to himself before disappearing back into the darkness of the night.

* * *

A/N: Well, that wasn't my best chapter, but I think I'm having a bad case of writer's block and it's all my teachers fault! She makes me write stories all the time and she is sucking the creative thought out of me. She's a leech I tell ya, a leech! Anyways, I still hoped you liked it, and stay tune because tomorrow is a brand new day for our little black furred hero. And Tristan's dog makes a scene. What will Yugi think of her, or perhaps the better question is, what will she think of Yugi? And a trip to the park turns from fun in the sun to a dog's worse nightmare. Thanks for viewing, R&R. See ya later!

Nightlight5


	10. New Place, New Face

A/N: Ummm, How many of you readers are ready to slap me for not updating sooner? looks around at all the raised hands Uh huh Uh huh, that's what I thought so I came prepared! Puts on hockey mask Alrighty then! Well, I really am sorry for the long wait, but I've had the worse case of Writer's Block ever! But no worries, my Creative Writing class has now ended as of this Semester and there will be no more writing stories for grades. Anyways, I did start writing a new fic to help me get out of writer's block. It's a Yu Yu Hakusho fic, and it turned out a lot better then I thought it would, so for all you Yu-Gi-Oh fans that also like Yu Yu Hakusho and like Kurama I'm going to be putting up that fic sometime soon I hope, but not before I put up the other fic I promised you guys. I'm hoping, since things are starting to pick up again and the FBLA Gold Seal project is almost over (that took up quiet a bit of my writing skills), I'll be able to get the new YGO story 'The World' up. I already have the first two chapters written out on it. But anyways, I've already taken up a lot of you guys reading time so I'm just going to say: Thank you to all that review! They really do mean a lot to me! And now… On with the show… I'm mean fic.

'Blah' Thinking

"Blah" Talking

#Blah# Yugi to Yami

# #Blah# # Yami to Yugi

$:$Blah$:$ Yugi's Doggie thoughts

**TEST OF FRIENDSHIP**

**Chapter 10: New Place, New Face**

Golden rays of sunshine poured through the gently pulled away curtains of the living room window. It was a beautiful morning; the sunlight through the window was evidence of that. But to Yugi, waking up was just another day of trying to be noticed for the spiky haired boy he was and not the smaller than usually fluff ball he had now been reduced to.

Speaking of the black fluff ball… he was still sleeping soundly on the couch in the same poison he was in before he fell asleep. The warm beams of sunshine shone softly on his face as if to let him know that he had over slept and it was passed time to get up. Unfortunately Yugi's idea of 'passed time to get up' wasn't 8am on a Saturday morning.

Yugi gurglingly opened his eyes but immediately closed them back when the unwelcome light filled his sockets. He tried opening them again, but this time more slowly so the 'just woken up' feeling wouldn't come all at once. When he was finally adjusted he lifted his small framed body out from under the warm blankets and sat up in a slouching head-down poison.

$:$Oww… the couch is good for sitting, not sleeping.$:$

He stretched and yawned and shook out his fur before taking in a fresh breathe of air. But when the air came, Yugi was pleasantly surprised to smell that the air was scented with the flavor of eggs and bacon.

$:$Yami's cooking… and there's no smell of burnt with it?$:$ Yugi thought as he plopped down from the couch and headed towards the kitchen. When he made it there he was disappointed to find the window from next house over was opened, as was his, and it was their wonderful breakfast that was wafting over into his and Yami's kitchen.

$:$I should've known it was too good to be true.$:$

"Well, you look like you had a rough night?"

Yugi turned his head to the other side of the kitchen and saw Yami fishing through an open cabinet.

$:$Well excuse me for looking rough but you're not the one that had to sleep in a dog's body, on a couch, with one blanket, and no pillow. Besides, you don't look a lot better yourself.$:$ Yugi voiced his sarcasm inside his head, but on the outside he only gave a loud snot and crossed over towards the table.

"And grumpy." Yami added as he came out of the cabinet with two pop tart packs. "I hope you don't mind, but like I said earlier I really don't know what a dog likes besides dog food and I don't have any of that. So I hope you like pop tarts."

Yugi carefully eyed the pop tarts as Yami sat them down on a plate in front of him.

"Next time I have to baby sit you, I'll be more prepared," Yami reassured him as he sat down at the table to eat his own pop tarts, "but I'm hoping the next time I'll have Yugi here to help me."

Yugi sighed and looked down at the pop tart before looking back at Yami. He smiled slightly. Yami was trying, but the truth was, he really didn't know a thing about dogs. Not to mention he wasn't looking so well. All that worrying and searching for him apparently wasn't doing Yami's health a bit of good.

$:$It's okay Yami. I'm glad you're not prepared, because prepared means dog food and I'd much prefer this strawberry pop tarts over dog food. Besides, you worry too much.$:$

The rest of their breakfast was spent in silent as they both nibbled around on their pop tarts that clearly neither of them wanted. But food was food, and at this point, Yugi wasn't about to be picky.

Just as they both finished with their breakfast, the door bell rang.

$:$Wonder who that is? Bet it's Tea.$:$

"Oh, that must be the gang." Yami unknowingly answered the small pups question as he got up and made for the front door. "I forgot that they called earlier this morning and said they were coming over this morning to help look again."

Yugi sat with his head crocked to the side as he watched Yami disappeared into the front of the game shop. He didn't begin to leave the kitchen until he heard his friend's voices float in through the open door. Sitting sheepishly in the doorway, he watched as they all filed in.

"'Ey Yami," Joey greeted," ow man, you don' look so good. Ya sick?"

"No, I'm fine Joey." Yami sighed as he ran a hand through his tri-colored hair.

"Awww, did the poor Pharaoh miss out on his beauty sleep?"

Yami and Yugi both jerked their heads up in the direction of the voice only to find a sharp-eyed, spiked hair Ryou, or better known as Bakura.

Yami growled, "What are you doing here?"

Bakura smirked and stepped the rest of the way inside the shop and shut the door behind him. It was a jester in itself; clearly saying that he was coming in whether Yami liked it or not and there was nothing he could do to stop him. But he spoke something different. "Why pharaoh, I thought you'd be happy I came to help out; after all, I seem to have better luck keeping up with my hikari then you, so I might just be able to help you with yours."

Yami didn't take to these words too kindly. He gritted his teeth and clutched his hands into a fist to help keep his self in check. "Bakura, I have no room for your sarcasm today or any other day for that matter, so if you're not going to take this seriously, then you might be better off going back where you came from."

Bakura 'humphed' at Yami's pathetic threat, "Where, Ryou's house?"

"No," Yami growled out as he stepped closer, "your tomb."

Bakura's smug look turned into a glare; a glare that would've lasted longer if not for Ryou jumping in.

"Alright you two, this is not what we are here for."

"Yeah, we don't have time for this." Tea jumped in as Ryou slipped back away from the fight.

"Geeze Ryou," Joey whispered, "Those two fight worse than me and Tristan."

Ryou sweatdropped but smiled back, "And I live with this."

"Speaking of Tristan, where is he?" Ryou added as he looked around.

"He was right behind me," Joey replied.

Just then the door to the Kame Game Shop opened for the second time that morning. Tristan stepped through the doorway and waited a minute before shutting it behind him.

"What took ya so long Tristan?" Joey asked.

"Sorry, Princess here decided to take a detour."

$:$Princess?$:$ Yugi thought, but as soon as he had a large dog stepped out in front of him and sat down.

$:$Ugh!$:$ Yugi thought as the rather large dog caught him off guard. He sat recoiled back on his haunches as he watched the big dog examine him.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the large dog crouched down in a lying poison and wagged her tail. Yugi was about to sit back up straight but stopped when the dog in front of him spoke.

"Oy."

Yugi's eyes grew wider and he blinked rapidly to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"You brought your dog Tristan?" Yami asked as they all watch 'Boo' and Princess' first meeting.

"Yeah," Tristan said as he continued to watch. "Princess doesn't get out and get the chance to meet a lot of dogs, so I thought it might be good for the both of them if they got to know one another."

"They seem to be getting a long well." Ryou pointed out.

Princess stopped wagging her tail and wiped the doggish grin off her snout and looked at Yugi inquisitively. "Hello? Are you in there?" She barked.

Yugi, who was still sitting there amazed that he was talking to another dog, or well, that another dog was talking to him, snapped out of his daze and realized how rude he was being.

"O—oh sorry," Yugi fumbled with his words, "you just took me by surprise."

"Oh," Princess barked, glad that he wasn't afraid of her, "sorry about that, I've just been anxious to meet you that's all."

"Meet me?"

"Oh yes," Princess yipped, "Master Tristan has told me all about you, but he did forget to mention how cute you are."

Yugi blushed, which was invisible under his fur. $:$Thank goodness, that's the last thing I would ever want Tristan to say about me.$:$

"So," Princess said when she saw this conversation was going no where, "Are you excited about our little outing today?"

"Our outing?" Yugi barked

"Yes! Master Tristan says we are going to look for one of there friends today and we get to go along! Doesn't that sound exciting. I do love a good mystery."

$:$Geez, this dog really doesn't get out much.$:$ "Oh yeah, great." Yugi lied.

"Well then, let's go see where they plan to take us to," Princess yipped with excitement as she came up from behind Yugi and use her noses to push him along towards the group.

"Hey hey, easy." Was Yugi's grumble as Princess never ceased her pushing.

When Yugi and Princess had made it over to the living room where the gang was now holding court, it appeared that a decided had already been made. Joey stood up and voiced that things had been settled and that they would all start at his apartment and branch out from there.

"We'll check every possible route home dat Yugi could of taken and maybe we'll find some kinda clue or somethin'."

It was quite a good idea. An idea that should have been thought of to begin with instead of looking around in 'know nothing' places that couldn't offer any clue as to where or what happened to Yugi.

$:$Now we're getting somewhere!$:$

* * *

$:$This is going no where…$:$ 

Yugi dropped down to the hard sidewalk as his friends checked every nook and cranny except for the one that might hold evidence. His eyes darted up and followed Princess as she darted by and yelled "Come on Yugi there's still places to search."

"No thank you, I'm quite tired of looking for myself." Yugi mumbled.

"Come again?" Princess asked, which caused Yugi to jump. He hadn't expected her to be right in front of him so quickly.

"Uhh, nothing, I said okay, let's go,"

"Okay!" Princess accepted the answer and ran off ahead of Yugi, still yelling for him to hurry and catch up.

$:$How can dogs have so much energy? I'm a dog and even I don't have that much energy. I think it's just her.$:$

Yugi begrudgingly pulled himself up from his current position and scampered off behind Princess with his tongue hanging slightly from his mouth.

"Well that's it." Yami placed his hand on his forehead and combed his fingers back through his hair, "We've checked everywhere…"

"Not quite," Bakura interrupted as he walked over to the nearest house and flipped open the lid on the mail box that was mounted on the side of the wall and then peeked in. When he was done he walked back over and stood back by Ryou. "Now we've checked everywhere."

"Bakura!" Ryou scolded and elbowed him in the ribs while everyone shot the former thief dirty looks.

Yugi's eyes were half lidded in annoyance. $:$Thanks Bakura…$:$

Yami sighed and messaged his brows, "This doesn't make any sense. We've checked every possible path from Joey's apartment to the Kame Game shop and we've still no closer to finding Yugi than we were when we started."

"Maybe he didn't go straight home," Tristan offered, "maybe he went somewhere else, or met somebody."

The ex-pharaoh's frown deepened at the thought of Tristan last comment, "That's what I'm afraid of…"

Even though the taller Yugi had meant his last statement to only be heard by himself, Joey couldn't help but over hear it. The blonde knew that Yami wasn't referring to what Tristan had originally implied, and silently he had thought the same thing. But it was one thing to think it, and another thing to have it admitted out loud. That made it seem real, and that's exactly what he didn't want.

"We'll check the allies," Joey said as he jammed his hands in his pockets and started to walk off in the direction of the nearest alley. "There are short cuts all the way around the city back here, and I'm not goin' home till I've checked 'em all."

"Joey…" Tea whispered. She recognized that serious look in Joey's eyes. It was an expression that never graced his face to often. Only when he was dueling or having a fight with Kaiba did he have that look. It was a sign that things had gotten serious.

Yugi too had seen the look in Joey's eyes and knew as well as Tea what it had meant. Yugi knew what was going through Joey's mind. He knew he was thinking that at this point hope was running thin and that was something Joey wasn't willing to let his mind admit. Yugi felt bad for making his friends feel this way, but there wasn't much he could do. What else could he possibly do to make them see that the dog they have been dragging around for the last few days wasn't really a dog at all, but the best friend that they had been searching for?

"Hey guys?" Tristan asked as he looked around, "Has anyone seen Princess?"

Everyone stopped for a moment and looked around except for Joey, how really didn't seem to care much for the whereabouts of Tristan's pet companion at the moment.

"There she is Tristan."

Tea pointed out the large German Shepard bounding out of one of the allies with what looked like some kind of white paper hanging from her mouth.

"Hey girl, don't go running off like that," Tristan kneeled down and patted the top of her head before giving her a questioning look, "What'd ya got in your mouth? You shouldn't put things in your mouth from the allies, you don't know where it's been."

Tristan quickly pulled the flat, white object from Princess' mouth and looked at it. He eyes widened as he stared down at the object while Princess stared up at her master with a bright expression and a happy wagging tail.

"What is it Tristan?" Ryou asked as he came up from behind.

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but look."

Everyone gathered around Tristan, this time Joey seemed more interested and came over as well. There reactions, except for Bakura's, mirrored that of Tristan when they looked at the object in his hand.

Yami quickly relieved Tristan of the object and inspected it closer. "This is Yugi's."

In Yami's hand was a single group photo of all his friends.

Yami's glaze harder as he looked up from the picture and his eyes landed on Tristan. "We need to know where this picture came from."

"Right," Tristan nodded and then turned to look at Princess. "Princess, I need you to show Tristan just where you found the photo. Can you do that for me girl?"

Princess barked and wagged her tail and looked over at Yugi who seemed to be awaiting her answer as well. "I should have been a detective dog."

"You did good Princess, but now I need you to take them to that alley where you found my photo."

"Your photo?" She yipped in confused, "I thought this belonged to the boy that we were looking for."

Yugi eyes widened and he sat back on his haunches, "Well it is, but… I'll tell you later, but right now we need to hurry okay."

"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a twist," Princess said as she turned and bolted for the alley.

"Alright guys let's go!" Tristan said as they all took off behind Princess.

* * *

They all stood gathered in the back of the alley way, looking around for anything that might give them a clue to where their shortest friend might be. 

"Nothing looks outta place ta me," Joey said as he kicked an empty can out of the way.

Yami clutched onto the photo and looked at it again. He stared hard at it as if he were trying to look through it and not at it. After what seemed like minutes Yami sneered at the picture and dropped it to the ground. At about the same time Bakura narrowed his eyes in disgust and placed the back of his hand over his nose.

"Only a mortal fool would see nothing has happened back here," Bakura sneered at Joey.

"So you sense it as well." Yami stated more than asked.

Bakura only snored at the pharaoh and continued to look disgusted.

"What is it?" Tea asked

Yami stared at the alley walls and the discarded photo once more before answering. "Something happened back here, something that has to do with fowl magic, the air around this alley reeks of it. And since Yugi's photo was back here I'm willing to bet this is the reason we haven't seen him in two days."

All except Yami and Bakura looked taken back by this information.

"What do you think happened?" Joey asked, "You don't think that whatever dis bad magic was did somethin' to our little bud do ya?"

"No of course not Wheeler," Bakura said sarcastically, "there has been loads of times where bad magic has done good things… oh wait, no there hasn't."

"Bakura!" Joey yelled in frustration and shook his fist at the grinning tomb robber, "how would you like to end up in that dumpster over there?"

"Enough!" Yami yelled, "we don't have time for this so if you two want to continue this take it else where."

Silent followed shorting after the ex-pharaoh's outburst.

Yugi was currently ignoring the 'humans' and was looking around on his own.

$:$I can still remember what happened in here perfectly. It's almost like watching a movie.$:$ Yugi took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, but shortly after he had expelled the air from his lungs a puzzled look crossed his face. $:$And what's even weirder is I can still smell my scent in here.

Yugi stiffed around more discovering a trail of his scent leaving out of the alley. His expression brightened. $:$This is my trail from the night of the accident. If I can get them to follow me, I can follow my trail to all the place I have been. This alley, the park, Tea's house… Hopefully they'll see the pattern between me and doggie me and put two and two together.$:$

"Boo! You're a genius!"

Yugi whipped around to see that Princess was stiffing the same spots that Yugi had just sniff off himself.

"We can follow this scent and let it lead us straight to their friend."

"Uh, yeah." Yugi replied weakly.

$:$oh man, this might be a little more difficult then I thought since deputy dog is right on my heels. And it's not like I can tell her it's me, she would never believe me.$:$

Princess barked at the gang trying to encourage them to follow her. Yugi finally joined her in trying to get them to follow. He knew it would be harder for him to get them to see that his trail and his dog trail was the same with Princess around, but for right now they both had the same goal and that was to just get them to follow.

"What is it girl?" Tristan asked as they all stared at the two vociferous dogs.

"I think they want us to follow them Tristan." Ryou offered as he stepped closer to the dogs. When he did Princess sniffed the ground again and ran up the alley a little ways before turning back and barking.

"She must have caught onto a scent in the alley," Tea said as she joined Ryou a little ways up the alley.

Yami looked unsure, "But she could have caught any scent in here. How can we be sure she has the right one?"

"Let's put it this way man," Joey answered. "If we stay here, we're lookin' at a dead end, but if we follow Boo and Princess at least we have something to go by."

Yami seemed to think about it for the moment before nodding to Joey.

"Let's go," Yami said, and with that, they all took off after the two tracking dogs.

* * *

A/N: Okay I know, it sucked right? But at least it is an update. This chapter is what I like to call an info chapter. I needed to show the progress the gang was making and introduce Tristan's dog. So how did you guys like her? Anyways, the next chapter is guaranteed to be way better and way sooner. I have quiet the little outing in store for our little Boo in the next chapter and there will be more humor in the next chapter as well. I hope you guys haven't forgotten about me in the long wait and I apologize again, Gomen! I hope you like it and please review and tell me what you thought. Also, since I made you guys wait so long, I'm going to allow everyone to give me a swift kick in the butt for not updating so soon, but remember, one kick per review… my poor butt might not be able to handle more than that. Until next time! 


	11. Doggie's Day Out

A/N: Hello everyone! Not quiet as many reviews as I've been getting, but I guess that's my own fault, or maybe I'm just losing my writing ability all together. --' I don't even wanna think about that; If that's the case then I'll cross that bridge when I get there. But moving right along…

P.S. I gave the explanation for why this chapter is so late in my new story I just put up so if you haven't read it it's in the top author note of that fic 'The World'. Also for the people that read that fic the next chapter will be up soon since I've already finished writing chapter II.

"blah" means Talking

'_blah' _means Thinking

$:$ blah $:$ means Yugi's doggie thoughts

**Review Responses:**

**PyroDragon2006:** I'm so glad you're still with me and thank you for your kind words. There definitely what keep me going. I hope you enjoy this chapter like you did the last one and as always thanks for the review.

**Una1:** covers ears and curls into a protective ball Sorry Sorry Sorry! I've always had a problem with asking people for help when I nee it. It's a stupid pride issue that I need to work on. About the whole pop tart thing… I think you'll find that it catches up to him a little bit later, but I'm not going to spoil the story. So enjoy and as always thank for the review, (P.S. You are definitely getting the award for most faithful and dedicated reviewer )

**mobileholms:** Yeah poor Yugi, it would be his luck that Bakura found out first. And always true to his character, he won't do anything to help the pharaoh. Thank you for the review!

**Jill:** pulls large golf ball out from between her eyes and then falls over Ouch… okay okay, I deserved that. I just hope that doesn't happen again for this long delay. But just encase. straps on helmet Thanks for the 'hard hitting' rubs forehead review!

**vllom21:** Lol, yeah, but let's hope for Bakura's sake that Yami never finds out. Thank you for taking the time to review!

**Angel of the Mirror:** SOCCER CLEATS! Oh Geez! I'm definitely glad you sparred me from that. After this large golf ball size whole in my head from reviewer Jill, having a nice couple of kicks to the rump would have been just what I needed to totally do me in. Aww, I'm honored to have been the first on your favorites list. That makes me feel really good! So here is the next chapter. Thanks for the review. P.S. I hope you like my newest story.

**Hopeless Wisher:** Wow, I'm sure glad that my timing for putting up my last chapter was in sync with your boredom, lol. Thanks for the review.

**Yume Ishimaru:** Lol, now you know Bakura would never do anything that would help the pharaoh. I'm glad you like it and thanks for the review!

**crystal:** Why thank you very much, I'm glad that you like it and here's the next chapter. Thanks for the review.

**Bayleef:** I'm glad you like both of the pups in the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter since it mostly revolves around the pair. Thanks for the review!

**Haley:** Thanks! I'm glad you like it and here is your update! Thank for the review!

**Masami Mistress Of Fire:** Okay, is today quick enough for you? I'm really glad you like it, so here's the next chapter for ya! Thanks for the review!

**Test of Friendship**

**Chapter 11: Doggie's Day Out**

The trail that the two pups and the eager teens had been following lead them to a small gazebo in the park. The group of rather impatient teens waited as Princess continued to sniff around the gazebo for another moment before stopping completely and look up at Tristan.

"'Ey Tristan, what's da matter with ya dog?" Joey's impatience was clear in his voice, "Its' sniffer brake or somethin'?"

Tristan didn't look up at Joey. Instead he squatted down next to Princess and gave her a well desired pat on the head. "Yeah Joey, it broke. Right after she got a whiff of you."

"'Ey!" The blonde exclaimed, "Don't go blamin' your dog's poor trackin' ablities on me."

"Give her a break Joey, she doesn't get out much and you're lucky she even got us this far!"

The rest of the group tuned the bickering duo out as they deliberated amongst themselves.

"Princess must've lost the trail." Tea concluded with a heavy heart.

"Tristan's right, we were lucky to have even come this far considering the amount of rain we got the night Yugi disappeared," Ryou added.

Yami didn't reply or make mention to either of their statements. He knew they had been lucky to have even made it this far, but he also knew that making it even this far was an improvement over what they had to go on, which was nothing. At least now they knew that Yugi had been confronted the night of his disappearance and had made it as far as the park afterwards. But what of all that evil energy they had found in the alley? Had it just been remains of what was once there before? Or was it related? Yami desperately wanted to believe that it was remnants of a past evil and had nothing to do with Yugi, but the picture that they had found in the alley that was saturated with the same evil energy gave Yami no such hope.

"So we're back ta square one," Joey grumbled. He and Tristan had apparently settled their differences.

"Not completely Joey." Yami mused and then elaborated at the look of confusion that showed on his friends face, "At least now we have some idea of Yugi's trail whereas before we only had a few hunches. We now know that he came to the park after the alley, so I'd say our best bet now would be to search the park."

"But we've looked here before and found nothing," Tea said in a hopeless voice.

"Yeah remember," Joey piped in, "Ryou agreed to check da park out on da first day we went out ta look, right Ryou?"

Joey noticed that Ryou had tensed a bit when he mentioned checking the park and wouldn't make eye contact with any of them.

"Woe how? Earth ta Ryou. You paying attention dere buddy?" the Brooklin accented teen waved his hand in front of the British teen's face to get his attention. "You did go ta da park on the first day didn't ya?"

"Oh… yes of course I went, but," Ryou paused for a moment and rubbed the back of his head while flashed a sheepish smile at his awaiting friends. "but you see, I sorta ran into an unexpected 'issue' when I got there and I didn't have the chance to actually, uh, look around."

"Say what!" Joey exclaimed as he grabbed Ryou's shoulders and gave him a shake, "what are ya talkin' about? What issue?"

Ryou's smile remained sheepish as he pointed down to the four-legged fluff ball just behind Joey, "Him."

Yugi face faltered. $:$So it's my fault now. Geez, I can't get a break even when I'm a dog.$:$

"Looks like you're in trouble Boo," Princess barked as she came up and sat herself next to the smaller pup.

Yugi's eyebrow twitched slightly at the name. Why on earth did they have to name him that? It sounded far too much like what a girlfriend and boyfriend pair called one another, so it sounded extremely bizarre to hear his female puppy friend calling him by that.

Joey looked annoyed and turned to pick up Boo by the scruff of his neck before dangling him in front of Ryou's face. The blonde noticed the look of shock on Ryou's face as he saw the way Joey was holding the pup, but he also noticed the grin that grow on Bakura face at the same time. He would have thought that to be odd had it been anybody but Bakura, but since it was he continued on with his rant without giving Bakura a second thought. "Ya mean ya abandoned the search so ya could take home this stray hairball?" Joey was now dangling Boo back and forth.

$:$Oww, Joey! Put me down, this is really uncomfortable and I can't feel the rest of my body.$:$

"Joey!" Tea yelled as her fist connected with the top of her street slavy, dog-dangling friend. "What do you think you're doing with my dog?"

Joey looked about ready to hit the ground after the blow he had received from Tea but managed to stay on his feet and continue the argument. "Aw, it ain't gonna hurt him Tea…'Ey!"

Joey would have continued on with his reasoning but was cut off by a sharp tug on his pant's leg and a low rumbling growl that vibrated through the fibers of his jeans. When he looked down he was not surprised to find that Princess had decided to become his leg ornament.

"Nice Doggie," Joey laughed nervously as he placed Boo into Tea awaiting arms and heard Tea reply with a smirk.

"Two against one Joey."

"You women always have ta have your way," the defeated blonde grumble as Princess slowly released Joey's pants leg as if to make sure he wasn't going to try anything again.

"What's that's s'pose to mean?" Tea challenged back as she let Boo jump from her arm and plop unto the ground next to his canine savior.

"Are you okay Boo?" Princess fussed over him, checking for any injuries, "did that ruffian hurt you?"

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine," Yugi squeaked in his doggy tone and shied away from Princess' continuous and quiet unnecessary inspection. He wasn't too sure that he was comfortable with this sudden care of his well-being from his four legged friend.

"Good," Princess exhaled in relief before a very ecstatic grin of some kind curled up her lips, revealing sharp white canines. Yugi would have thought she had lost her mind and was going to attack him had she not quickly given reason for her sudden joyfulness, "But did you see what I did? I just leaped into attack without even thinking about it. All I knew was that I had to help you and my instincts took over. Wow, I've never had anything happen to me like that, it felt amazing…"

Princess continued to rabble on as he pretended to listen. He couldn't believe how much Tristan had shelter this dog, never having acted on her instincts before. While the larger dog continued to relive her moment of glory, Yugi had nonchalantly turned his attention to the bickering teens behind him. To his surprise, they weren't there. Sometime during his and Princess's brief conversation (on the count that Princess did most of the talking) they most have resolved their problem and went off to search the park.

"Hey Princess," Yugi said, cutting into her aloud thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Where did the other's go?"

"Others? Oh! The others!" Princess had momentarily forgotten they were in the company of humans and looking over Yugi's head when she remembered, "They left us! Master Tristan left me. Do you think it was because I almost bit his friend? What if he's mad at me now?"

Yugi was taken back by the German shepherd's sudden fanatic behavior. Wasn't it just two seconds ago that she was praising herself for her actions against Joey, and now she was deeply regretting it.

"Whoa, hey," Yugi tried to calm the weary looking dog, "Tristan wouldn't do that. He probably just thought you might want to enjoy the park while they went out to search for me, I mean their friend. Yeah, in fact, he's probably rewarding you for helping them get this far."

This seemed to put Princess worries at ease a bit. "You really think so? Aww thanks Boo, you always know what to say to make me feel better."

Yugi smiled back at Princess glad to know that he had helped, but his smile turned quickly to shock as he felt Princess give his snout a quick lick before she scampered off beckoning him to come join in on the park festivities. He wasn't sure if he could follow at this point even if he wanted too. His paws were weighted to the ground as an awkward and disturbing thought entered into his head.

$:$That was my first kiss… and it was from a German Shepard. Nobody is ever going to hear about this.$:$

After the initial shock wore off Yugi was able to pry his leaden paws from the ground and move across the park in the direction he had saw Princess flee in. The park was especially crowded today. Apparently today was national 'take your dog to the park' day, because everywhere Yugi turned there was a family or individual sporting around their canine companion. Some were playing frizz-be and ball, while others were simply jogging around while there dog trotted close behind.

As Yugi passed by, he thought it was odd being able to understand the conversation between both the human and the dog, even when the human doing the talking couldn't understand.

"Come on come on, throw the ball throw the ball!"

Yugi looking over at a dog that had to be at least his size or smaller bouncing up and down while his master was taunting him with the ball.

"Come on, I'm dying here, just throw it, just throw… BALL!"

The small hyper dog shot off in a flash as his master finally throw the ball and laughed as the pup's head smashed into a trashcan while trying to stop.

Yugi shook his head at the small pup's antics and continued on his way.

$:$There's no way I'd ever chase after a round ball like that. I've got to find a way to make them see it's me.$:$

There's was only four days left until his time would be up and so far the only person that knew who he was was Bakura; a lot of good that was doing him. Besides Bakura, he had a feeling that Yami was the closest to finding out, but that didn't do him any good either. Yami was so neck deep in guilt over Yugi's disappearance that his keen eye for details had apparently been hindered him from seeing what was right in front of him.

This was definitely going to be a lot harder than he thought. If only he could access his bond with his darker half, then he would have no problem convincing them of who he was. But then again that would be too easy, and he had a feeling that whoever this shadowy figure was, was hoping that Yugi would lose. This didn't put Yugi's mind to rest at all. What did the shadowy figure want anyway? Sure, he said he wanted to test his bond of friendship with his friends, but the more Yugi thought about it, the more he doubted that this had anything to do with his friends. His friends wouldn't be the ones to suffer if they didn't put the truth together in just four more days, he would, so the figure must want something from him, but what? And after four days, what would be his fate? Would he be stuck as a dog forever? Yugi doubted that, after all, what would the figure gain from making Yugi a dog permanently? At this point the forbidding feeling that was growing in the pit of his stomach wasn't helping his already mounted fears.

Yugi was suddenly thrown out of his thoughts by the distance scruffy voice of Princess yelling. It didn't take long for Yugi to spot Princess not to far off with her front paws propped up on the side of a big oak tree and looking up impatiently. When Yugi finally made it over, he found out that he was right in the middle of one of the oldest revivals known to man and beast.

"Why not come down here and say that to my face kitty," Yugi sweatdropped as Princess taunted the bored looking slick, black cat sitting on one of the many branches of the oak tree.

The cat turned it's bored expression to Princess and replied in an emotionless tone. "And come down to your level? I think not. But here's an idea. Why not take your stubby canine claws and haul your oversized hind-quarters up here."

Princess growled, "Oh yeah, well, at least I'm big enough to be the predator and not the prey."

"Uh, Princess," Yugi tried to interject as the voice of reason, "maybe you should just leave the cat alone."

"But… He started it!"

The black cat visibly rolled its' bright yellow eyes, "Oh yes, I practically beg her to disturb my slumber and chase me up this tree."

"Well if you would have stood and fought, then you wouldn't had to have ran scare up this tree." Princess replied with her nose stuck slightly in the air.

"You mistake me," the feline replied laying lazily down on the branch but keeping it's stare on the two pups below, "I wasn't running scared from you, I thought we were experiencing an earthquake so a ran for safety like any _smart _creature would do. Imagine my surprise when I found out that you were the earthquake all along."

"Why you little furball!"

"Princess just leave it alone, he's clearly trying to taunted you."

"And who are you?" the cat asked turning his glance to Yugi, "I've never seen you around here before, and I'm sure I would remember someone of your…" the cat trialed off as it gave Yugi a quick look up and down, "_low _stature."

$:$Hey! I was trying to help the cat and it turns on _me_.$:$

Princess sniffed in a quick breath of air and turned glaring eyes back throws the offending feline, "Don't you dare talk to Boo like that! He's a really nice guy!"

The cat hissed out what sounded like a snicker and his eyes filled with a mocking expression, "Boo, why did they name you that? Was it because your face is so scary?"

"That's it kitty, you're going down!" Princess snarled and embedded her claws into the bark of the oak and tried to pull herself up the 90 degree angle trunk. The cat stood up and hissed at her predator's actions while Yugi just watching in astonishment.

Yugi decided that he wasn't going to stick around and watch how things turned out so he snuck off before either of the bickering parties knew he was gone. He figured that he needed to be looking for one of the guys anyway. It just wouldn't do for him to get lost in the park again and get picked up by a stranger. The first time he had gotten lucky with Ryou being there, but he had a feeling that this go around if he were to get left he wouldn't be so lucky.

Another thing that was bothering Yugi was the intense growing desire of wanting to join in on the other dog's fun. He kept finding himself distracted by the soft thuds of the rubber bouncing balls that kept rolling passed him. Once, he had even run into a tree watching one bounce and roll on passed him.

$:$No, I'm not a dog, I won't chase the ball. I can handle this. I'm stronger than this.$:$

Yugi kept repeating those lines over and over in his head, though it was hard to concentrate on them over his other worried thoughts. Why was he suddenly having these dog-like urges to chase a ball and rip it to pieces? Was he slowly turning more like a dog with each passing day? That thought alone set Yugi on edge.

$:$This can't be happening! I'll never be able to get the guys' attention before my time runs out if I'm to busying chewing up newspapers and chasing cars! I can't give into this, if I give in now, what's next? A heaping bowl of Kibbles and Bits?$:$

As soon as Yugi had finished his thoughts, a bright, shiny blue ball came bouncing right under his nose and rolled passed a set of bushes. Yugi's short doggy legs began to shake as he longingly watched the perfectly round rubbery ball round on without him behind it.

$:$I can do this I can do this… No I can't! Wait up little ball!$:$

All Yugi's sense of human thoughts flow out the window as the desire for catching the little rubber ball took over completely. It didn't matter anymore that he was a human or a dog, all that mattered was that one little blue ball. In fact, he was so into catching the ball, that when he finally caught up to it he had no idea that he had left the park.

Yugi chewed on the ball trying to inflicted damage upon it. He rolled over onto his side and brought his hind legs up to kick one half of the ball as he chewed on the other half.

$:$Oh man, where have you been all my life you little round ball of rubbery goodness.$:$

And that's the thought that brought Yugi back to his senses. He slowly stopped his kicking on the rubbery ball and thought about the position he was now in. Feeling thoroughly embarrassed, he picked his petite black doggy body off the ground and kept his head down.

$:$How could I have let this happen? I've got to get a hold of these urges or there's no telling what might happen next.$:$

"What do we have here?"

Yugi looked up just in time to see a large net come down around him. He yelped in surprise and struggled to get free as the net scooped him up and brought him eye level with one of the last people he ever wanted to see while in his canine form; The dog catcher.

"Well, well," the tubby dog catcher from only a day ago stated smugly, "if it isn't my little friend from the other day, and it looks like you don't have anybody to protect you today. Guess you know what that means. You get to take a little trip down town with me."

$:$Hey wait, stop! You can't do this, I'm not a dog!$:$

Yugi's barking protests fell on deaf ears as the dog catcher opened up the empty pin in the back of his truck and throw him in none to gently. He scratched on the metal fence door as the sound of the engine starting blared in his ears. He knew it was no use at this point to scratch on the door; he would never get out in time. If only he had been able to resist his urges and stayed in the park, then he wouldn't be in this mess. As the truck began to roll away Yugi figured there was only one thing left to do.

"HELP!" Yugi barked as loud as his lungs would allow and hoped against all hopes that someone would hear him.

Unknowingly to Yugi, his cry didn't fall on deaf ears. Fortunately, they had fallen upon the on looking figure of a very distraught German Shepard at the entrance of the park.

* * *

A/N: Phew, well that's it for the 11th chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope to hear from you about what you think. Have a Happy Fourth of July everybody! 


End file.
